Let’s begin here: thank you! So, so much.

Your delightful response to my big announcement last week was just what I had hoped for. Indeed, you seem as tickled as I feel about it! Honestly, it’s a dream come true and I can hardly wait to hold a copy in my hands come Winter Solstice time. Thank you for sharing in my joy.

In other news, here are some pictures that Lupine took of me in my new(ish) dress that I took far too long to sew considering how simple and intuitive the construction is. I kept wandering off and getting distracted, but now that it’s done I might never take it off.

The pattern is the lovely Dotty Angel’s frock pattern. I stitched in a few mods because I couldn’t help myself.

You can buy the pattern here if you’d like (afflink) and make one for yourself, too. Then we could be twins.

But alas, this post is not about the book or sewing or even the delight of wearing something still called a “frock” for three days straight. This post (unfortunately) is about Lyme disease.

Yes, again. 

I know. Right?

I was a little late to the tick-prevention protocol game this year (the one I outlined here), and foolishly ventured into to the woods one day early this spring without bug spray.

I knew better. Really I did. But sometimes life happens and we lose track of time and forget the things we should know better than forget. Lessons learned the hard way, again and again and again.

I ended up with a bite.

I removed the tick, took my herbs, and monitored for symptoms. I felt great though, and thought that perhaps I had dodged the bullet.

But then, a few weeks after the bite and quite out of the blue, I developed vertigo. I mentioned it on Instagram and some of you had some amazing and helpful suggestions (thank you!). I didn’t jump to Lyme as my first guess of what was going on, but got adjusted, and took some immune supporting herbs. My medical doctor suspected Lyme, however, so I reluctantly picked up a month-long supply of antibiotics.

I stalled on taking the first dose, hoping it was a dislodged crystal or an inner ear infection or a misaligned cervical vertebrae. But two weeks later I’m still too dizzy some days to walk straight or drive a car.

And the brain fog (and deep fatigue) happening here is real.

Other Lyme symptoms have begun cropping up as well, so yesterday morning, I held an antibiotic pill in my hand, thanked it for my healing, and swallowed that sucker down. It took me a week to give in and feel willing to head down this path, not having been convinced that it was truly Lyme or a Lyme co-infection, and wanting to extinguish my other options before willy-nilly obliterating my gut flora.

Is it Lyme? Maybe. The test isn’t accurate enough to bother with in my opinion (especially paying out of pocket). But the truth is, right now it feels right to go this route. To stop throwing the dice on whether or not it’s Lyme. Let’s try this, and see if it helps.

And with that, we begin.

With gratitude for having a Lyme Literate Medical Doctor; gratitude for knowing my body and knowing when something isn’t right; gratitude and for the miracle of antibiotics in our lives on the rare occasions when we truly need them; gratitude for a light at the end of this very dizzy tunnel.

In related news, it’s time to make some sauerkraut. Gallons of the stuff. Because my gut flora is going to need all the love it can get.

Here’s to healing, friends. Both mine and yours… whether physical, spiritual, emotional, or otherwise.

Here’s to the beauty and courage of healing–of every sort.