My pup

I'm back, it's been a full week! A week where I was a bit better again. That last flare lasted another day and inexplicably went on its merry way. Or maybe very explicably considering all the alkalizing I did.

I'm still on track with my new plan to increase my med dosages very slowly to hopefully avoid the nonstop herxing I usually experience for weeks and months at a time. Too early to tell if this is going to be at all successful, because I'm just three days in to my newest herbal anti microbial rotation. I'm supposed to be at 30 drops of Mora and Cumanda for this one. I started at 20 and am up to 21 today. I've had joint swelling in my right hand and weird hive like bumps on my skin. But that's it. Usually I would take these symptoms as essentially nothing and increase my dosage more quickly - to a level just under what I would find completely intolerable. Aiming to keep it at 'actually feeling kind of okay' this time. For as long as I can.

Wish me luck.

But you the keen reader might wonder, why are you back in bed and posting if you are still feeling good like you say you are? Well, it turns out it's because of that extra gift that comes along with being female... My time of the month. PMS'ing right now and it is making me super tired and sore. How do I know it's not the antimicrobials? I can't for sure logically, but I know my body and this is PMS.

My gratitude this rainy afternoon? All of the above. Feeling good, inspired with new ideas, being a girl and honouring my body's cycles, but also my pup. You can see her in the photo. She's sitting so tightly beside me, pressing into my thigh as I type. Offering comfort, warmth and love.

Puppy heater

I take an afternoon nap every day. Not really an option with the lyme fatigue. Also the headaches... sleep seems to reset me somewhat and dinner is more doable if I have slept.

My dogs get so excited as I finish up lunch: Are we going for a nap now?! Are we? Are we? Hooray! We loooove naps. They bounce around my legs, hyper-happy, like we are going to go for a walk.

I find it odd, but they really do this. Sometimes, when I get a bit depressed about having to spend even more time in bed, I just look down at them pleading with me to go curl up in bed and realize that hey maybe napping is actually pretty darn awesome. Something to be celebrated. Clearly, they say. Clearly!

My fave part is that my oldest dog, she's 15, insists on napping under the covers, curled right up tight against my back for afternoon nap time. Not at any other time of day - it's weird. But I love it. Her energy is soothing, as is the heat.

The difficult part then becomes convincing myself (and them!) to get back up.

Quiet

Hanging out here, resting in bed... after supper. One kid already asleep in her room, the other watching hockey with her dad in the basement.

My bedside lamp casts a warm, comforting glow. It's quiet. So quiet and calm that the pups don't even look up when I shift positions. Everyone is content. I don't care about the pain in my body, or overwhelming fatigue in my head. Because I feel so peaceful.

Fuzzy blanket!

Today it's this warm, fuzzy beige blanket I'm grateful for. An odd material, I can't recall what it is actually made of. But it is comforting against my skin that is tender and sore to the touch. Strangely soothing to the nauseated-headache-y sensation that seems to have engulfed my entire being.

Writing this, I suddenly realize that it is like snuggling up to a giant, warm, lightweight teddy bear. No wonder it soothes!