Praying for Lymies

Emma K.

2011-09-28T17:24:00.001-04:00

Emma K is a 24 year old from Morgantown West Virginia. Emma was born in Los Angeles California, but moved to West Virginia around age 2. She has always loved the outdoors. Emma doesn't recollect a tick bite, but she was always sick as a child with chronic sinus infections and had mono that just wouldn't go away.

Emma's troubles also included severe right shoulder/neck and jaw pain that would turn into a debilitating migraine up to 5 times a week. Emma had fatigue so strong that she didn't think she would be able to put one foot in front of the other. She had hip pain, confusion and word loss.

Emma's been in treatment for 8 months and she has a lot less fatigue and only 1 migraine a month. Her hip and knee pain has reduced and she still has some lingering shoulder/neck jaw pain. When she's at the peak of a herx or feeling particularly "lymie" she still has some confusion and gets lost. She does feel a lot clearer though.

Emma has been diagnosed with Chronic Lyme and Erhlichia. She responds to Bartonella treatment and also has high heavy metal toxicity. Currently, she is pulsing and changing around many antibiotics. She also takes a ton of supplements. Most recently, Emma started A-Bart and has seen a vast improvement already. She feels that mild hyperbaric chamber is the thing that has helped her the most. She will begin chelation therapy for the high amounts of lead, aluminum, cadmium and another heavy metal that she can't remember right now. She also has Physical Therapy and energy work & massage.

Emma knows of no other family members diagnosed with tick borne illnesses. She requests prayers of continued healing path. She knows that she's on this healing path and can feel that she's getting there. She also would like another prayer for anyone suffering. Emma has a blog called "Feeling Lymie" Her blog address is http://lymieekatern.blogspot.com/

*** Emma has been in the hospital several times this week. Her latest blog dated today (September 28 2011) explains everything. ****

Her favorite song is Angels Watching Over Me, but I was unable to locate a great video so in substitution, I Can Only Imagine (Mercy Me)

August 2011 Lymies

2011-08-31T08:40:00.006-04:00

August 28, 2011 Shadow's Biography living in California.

August 20, 2011 Heather H's Biography living in Texas

August 8, 2011 My Friend Alisa living in North Carolina

August 7, 2011 Brenda N's Biography living in North Carolina.

August 6, 2011 Jaime M's Update living in Ohio.

August 5, 2011 Molly C's Update living in Michigan.

August 4, 2011 Christine's Biography living in North Carolina

Shadow M's Biography

2011-08-28T20:14:00.002-04:00

Shadow M. is a 42 year old single mother of two living in Southern California. Shadow was born and raised in Iran and moved to the United States at the age of 16. After she finished High School here, she got her Bachelors degree in Computer Science and Math in 1992. She was married the same year. She got a job working as a software engineer. While she was working at HP, she had her first daughter. In 1997, Shadow went back to school for pre-med and received her Masters in Physiology in 2001. She started Medical school after. In 2002, Shadow had her second daughter. She graduated from Medical school in 2006 and did residency from 2006 to 2010 in psychiatry. Shadow divorced in 2009.

Shadow has Lyme Disease, Babesia, Mycoplasma, Ebstein Barr Virus, HHV6, CMV, West Nile and another co-infection bacteria. All of these things give her severe fatigue, muscle weakness, muscle stiffness and pain, joint pain and swelling. She also has brain fog, headaches, nausea, sleep disturbances and depression. Shadow also struggles with migrating pains, panic attacks, loss of balance, mood swings, heart palpitations, air hunger, blurred vision and suicidal thoughts.

Shadow is on a variety of IV medications. She used Invanz followed by Rifampin. She also used two months of Azithroycin. She also uses Oral Mepron interchanging every three months with Malarone. Shadow also uses Oral Tindamax.

Shadow is very thankful that she doesn't have any family members with Lyme Disease. She really needs prayers for positive thoughts and energy. Her blog website is http://www.mylymediseasestory.blogspot.com/

Welcome to Praying for Lymies

2011-08-25T15:08:00.002-04:00

I am currently working on writing a biography for Shadow. If you're interested in being featured, leave a comment with your email address and I'll contact you with the survey. :)

If you have been featured in the past and want to have an update, please contact me via a comment and leave your email address so I can contact you. Here is the survey for updating:

Name
Age
Location
How have you improved?
What things have gotten worse?
Specific prayer request
Anything new you want to share?
(you can also answer any of the questions from the original survey if they didn't pertain to you the first time around and do this time around such as blog, family members with it?)
Would you like to use a photograph? If so please email it to me if we're not on FB together

1. All of the old biographies (and posts) will remain. If you come across any URL's that don't work, please let me know via a comment on that particular post. It's difficult to go through every post and find links that don't work. I may copy & paste some of the prayer posts into one post to make it easier for you all to go through the old posts.

2. Want to be featured? Leave a comment. Any ole comment will do, but please leave a way for me to contact you. If you don't, then I can't contact you. It's as simple as that. All comments are moderated so leave your email address for me to contact you. I will get back with you with a Questionaire. We'll connect on several different occasions to make sure that the biography is correct and then I'll set a date for it to be published.

3. First come, first served. I'll keep a list on the blog. Whoever returns the Questionnaire first, gets featured first. It's that simple. Where is the questionnaire? Look over to the left hand side and you'll see it. Otherwise you'll get it in your initial email contact with me.

4. NO MORE EMAILS! In the past I had utilized the "Email 2 Blog" function. I will no longer be utilizing this function. I was getting too many spam messages and very few actual messages. It was difficult to weed through so I decided that comments were better.

5. Want to leave a prayer for a lymie? Leave a comment at the end of their biography.

With revitalizing the blog, I thought it would be fun if I added pictures. So along with the Survey, I will ask if you would like your photo on the blog.

1. Survey for Original Biography

Name
Age
Location
Illnesses
Symptoms
Background
Treatment Plan
Do you have family members with it?
Specific prayer request
Do you have a blog? What's the website?
Would you like your photo posted with your biography?
Is there a Christian song that has special meaning to you?
Email address so I can contact you

Go ahead .. what are you waiting for? Leave a comment so you can be featured!

Heather's Biography

2011-08-20T19:45:00.001-04:00

Heather is a 28 year old Mother who has Chronic Lyme Disease that currently lives in Texas. Her husband is in the military so they move quite frequently. They have two daughters age four and one. Heather was bitten by a tick at the age of 6. She even got the classic bulls eye rash. Heather didn't have symptoms of Lyme until a few years later (including the classic Joint Pain). She had symptoms off and on throughout the years that were not correctly diagnosed until she gave birth to her oldest daughter at age of 24. It took three more years to get a Lyme diagnosis. She is finally in treatment and showing small, but hopeful progress.

Heather experiences nerve pain, bone pain, extreme fatigue and weakness. She is using pulse therapy long term antibiotic therapy using multiple antibiotics at one time. Heather and her husband suspect that their four year old daughter also has Lyme, but do not have the financial means to get her tested right now.

Heather's specific prayer request is that of encouragement and endurance as she fights Lyme Disease. She also needs encouragement for her husband who bears the brunt of all that she can not do. He not only works an 8 hour day, but takes care of the household. Heather needs strength and grace from God to get through her day tending to her young children as best as she can even though she feels so terrible that even small tasks seem impossible.

Heather has a blog that she uses to tell how she's feeling. It's called "Today I feel Exceptionally."
It also has her full Lyme biography if you would like to see. It's at the top right hand corner of her blog.

Welcome to Praying for Lymies!

2011-08-08T14:30:00.001-04:00

Welcome to Praying for Lymies. It is with this blog that I hope to share with the world the difficulties we all face with Lyme Disease. I started this blog in March of 2009. It was my hope to feature one Lymie per week, however it quickly grew and things changed. In April, May, and June I had 138 posts (some were from me, some were from others). Then things slowed down. I only had a handful of posts each month the rest of 2009 and then only a handful of posts in 2010. I slowly stopped checking in to see if I had any new messages.

Then a couple of days ago, I saw the first button that Mrs. Dawson made for Praying for Lymies. It was the urging I needed to come back. I looked at the comments that needed moderating. I had a ton of spam messages, but there was ONE. One that asked to be featured. Now this person did not leave an email address for me to contact, but that one person made me realize that I missed the passion I put into this blog.

So if you have been featured in the past and want to have an update, please contact me via a comment and leave your email address so I can contact you. Here is the survey for updating:

Name
Age
Location
How have you improved?
What things have gotten worse?
Specific prayer request
Anything new you want to share?
(you can also answer any of the questions from the original survey if they didn't pertain to you the first time around and do this time around such as blog, family members with it?)
Would you like to use a photograph? If so please email it to me if we're not on FB together

Welcome back. Things have changed (the background for one!), but some things will remain the same. Here is what I wrote in my revitalizing the blog post.

1. All of the old biographies (and posts) will remain. If you come across any URL's that don't work, please let me know via a comment on that particular post. It's difficult to go through every post and find links that don't work. I may copy & paste some of the prayer posts into one post to make it easier for you all to go through the old posts.

2. Want to be featured? Leave a comment. Any ole comment will do, but please leave a way for me to contact you. If you don't, then I can't contact you. It's as simple as that. All comments are moderated so leave your email address for me to contact you. I will get back with you with a Questionaire. We'll connect on several different occasions to make sure that the biography is correct and then I'll set a date for it to be published.

3. First come, first served. I'll keep a list on the blog. Whoever returns the Questionnaire first, gets featured first. It's that simple. Where is the questionnaire? Look over to the left hand side and you'll see it. Otherwise you'll get it in your initial email contact with me.

4. NO MORE EMAILS! In the past I had utilized the "Email 2 Blog" function. I will no longer be utilizing this function. I was getting too many spam messages and very few actual messages. It was difficult to weed through so I decided that comments were better.

5. Want to leave a prayer for a lymie? Leave a comment at the end of their biography.

With revitalizing the blog, I thought it would be fun if I added pictures. So along with the Survey, I will ask if you would like your photo on the blog.

1. Survey for Original Biography

Name
Age
Location
Illnesses
Symptoms
Background
Treatment Plan
Do you have family members with it?
Specific prayer request
Do you have a blog? What's the website?
Would you like your photo posted with your biography?
Is there a Christian song that has special meaning to you?
Email address so I can contact you

Go ahead .. what are you waiting for? Leave a comment so you can be featured!

My Friend Alisa

2011-08-07T13:18:00.008-04:00

Compliments of Angelique Cook Photography

I have a beautiful friend named Alisa. Not only is she beautiful on the outside, her heart is absolutely pure. I met Alisa in 2007 after my Lyme diagnosis. I would go to get IV treatments and this beautiful girl sat near me. As we laid there in our own treatment chairs, we would talk when we weren't sleeping. I barely remember our conversations, but I do remember we talked about my Lyme Disease, her heavy metal poisoning and our mutual vein problems. I remember her talking about traveling, but with my Lyme Brain I couldn't remember why she traveled all the time. Alisa was there on the day I got my PICC line. And Alisa was the first person (other than my husband) to see my PICC as she was contemplating getting one. She saw my PICC less than 30 minutes after it was placed.

So I have been wanting to do a biography on one of my dearest Lyme friends since I started this blog. I contacted her recently asking if she would be interested and as all of you know, it's very difficult when you're in the depths of Lyme to form a complete thought. So while I know it's difficult for her to do my survey right now and while I don't have the information to do a true biography on my friend, I do want you to get to know Alisa and her soul.

Alisa currently lives in North Carolina not too far from me. She just recently got married and her husband is a dream come true for Alisa. I've seen her wedding pictures and to say that she looked absolutely radiant is an understatement. Alisa struggles with many aspects of Lyme. I don't even know where to begin and since we haven't actually seen each other in so long, I really don't know of even half of her difficulties. I do know that she has seizures. She does IV treatment at home through a port and also has a feeding tube. The difficulties of Lyme brings loneliness. Because you don't get Lyme until you get Lyme, people outside the Lyme world don't understand how complicated Lyme is for Alisa so she feels lonely. After you read this, you will hear her beautiful voice which is why it is so frustrating that Alisa now has to go to speech therapy because her muscles in her mouth have weakened so much.

When I reached out to her, she was worried that she wouldn't be able to answer the questions the way she wanted to. Her brain struggles constantly that she has moments where she doesn't even recognize her husband. She had two hours the other day where she could handle light noise and being able to read & comprehend, but that doesn't last long. So that's why I wanted you all to get to know my friend Alisa. She & her husband need your prayers.

The best way I know how to share with you my friend is to have you listen to her voice. This video is from 2008. And a year ago, I rediscovered why Alisa traveled so much when I discovered this video. Alisa is an incredible singer and talented song writer. Go to the bottom of those post to read the lyrics.

My note to my friend:

Alisa, I love you. I consider you to be one of my best friends. I thank God that He put me through my own Lyme journey because He allowed me to meet some absolutely fantastic people in this world which at the top of that list is you. It is my desire that God heal you completely and you absolutely deserve the best this world has to offer. This song gives me incredible goose bumps and reaches my soul. I think it is a wonderful anthem for Lyme Disease even though you may not have known you had Lyme when you wrote these heart touching lyrics. When you are able, I would love to do a true biography with the survey I sent. But for now, I hope this helps touch your heart as much as you've touched mine. May God bless and heal you.

Your friend,

Jennifer

Breathing by Alisa Turner

It is dying to come out
It is killing me within
Someone check if I’m still

Breathing
Just keep me breathing
Oh now what should I say
I wanna to keep it from the heart
Well someone check if I’m still

Breathing
Just keep me breathing
See this is why I sing it
It’s gonna keep me breathing

I should’ve told you from the start of things
That tonight I’m really suffering
And me I hope you’re still

Believing
Don’t stop believing
Cause if you stop believing
Than it will keep me singing

I do have thought of suicide
I know it’s brave of me to say (I know)
But am I brave enough

To Stay
Enough to stay
So this is why I’m singing
To keep me breathing

Brenda N's Biography

2011-08-07T06:00:00.000-04:00

A lot of Lymies that I have featured here, I haven't had the pleasure to meet in person. Brenda N. is an exception to that statement. I met Brenda in a small town of North Carolina. Her family had gone to the huge Lyme Walk in DC. When Brenda made the comment of how she wished we could have a walk in North Carolina, her sisters were determined to make it happen. They did just that. To read more about the Lyme Walk, see my personal blog Living the Lyme Life.

Back to Brenda:

Brenda is a 49 year old Lymie originally from Virginia, but she now lives in a small town in North Carolina. Prior to getting Lyme Disease, she had never been sick. If you roll up Brenda's Fibromyaglia, osteoarthritis, high blood pressure and neurological issues all into one nasty disease, you have Lyme Disease with coinfections.

Brenda is well on her way to remission and while it may sound like a lot the symptoms that remain are Neurological issues, spinal and knee pain, swelling of some joints, fatigue and sometimes feeling disoriented. This is miles from where Brenda used to be. In the late 70's, Brenda was treated for Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever. She was hospitalized for a full week on IV antibioitcs and made a full recovery. She went on to live a full and productive life for years.

Brenda got married and had a wonderful daughter (that I've also met!) who is now 30 years old. In 2008, she was bitten again by a tick and diagnosed in 2009 by her primary physician with Lyme. Three weeks into Doxycycline, her doctor sent her to an Infectious Disease Doctor. This is where it is unreal to those without Lyme, but those of with Lyme have heard this story a multitude of times. The Infectious Disease Doctor told Brenda that she did not have Lyme Disease and she needed to stop the Doxy right away. Another year passes and her health continues to decline faster and faster.

After this year, she finally sees a Rheumatologist and she requests that Brenda repeats the Lyme tests. Brenda says, "Well you guessed it, another positive." She couldn't believe it especially after the specialist said that she did not have it. She goes onto another round of Doxy and since so much time had passed since her initial bite, the infection had spread into her spinal cord and brain. Brenda has been in treatment since 2010 and believes her doctor has saved her life. She was having seizures. She was using a wheelchair and now she's walking on her own two feet. Brenda feels, "Mind you, it is not as great as others walk but it is wonderful to me :) "

Currently her treatment plan includes: Doxycycline, Mycobutin and Cefdinir. She's pulsing these at 2 weeks on and 2 weeks off. Her other medications include: Gapapentin, Oxcarbasepine, L Methyfolate, Lamotrigine, Cymbalta, B12 shots and Hydroclorothiazide. Along with all of these Brenda takes Omega 3, Magnesium Malate, Vitamin D, Tocotrienols, Glucosamine, Chondroitin, Probiotics and a multivitamin. She also does a lemon drink for liver cleanse, eats a lot of sunflower seeds (for MSM, which is good for inflammation), lots of Orange Juice and Detox Baths with Epsom salt and baking soda. Brenda has been in physical therapy for 13 weeks now. She uses Electro Stimulation and recently started Water Therapy.

Her cousin is currently being tested for Lyme Disease. Brenda needs prayers for her days that not as good. Brenda is such a special person that she wants to be there for anyone who is having a rough day. She believes that praying together or praying for one who is sick helps. She says, "Prayer does work, I truly believe that. Sharing prayers and faith together will surely get us through the difficult times of this disease." I couldn't have said it better myself.

Jaime M's Update

2011-08-06T08:35:00.004-04:00

On Wednesday, April 29th 2009, I featured one of my very first Lymie friends, Jaime M.

Jaime M is now a 33 year old mother of two wonderful children in Ohio. She was so sick a couple of years ago that her husband had to carry her into her Mom's house for Christmas dinner. She couldn't walk, talk or even hold a pen to write her name. She was constantly throwing up. Jaime got to the point where she wrote goodbye letters to her children and husband. She knew that if things didn't change, she would be dead within the month.

Jaime looked death in the eyes. Jaime said, "By all means I'm not scared to die, to be in heaven with no more pain and suffering and surrounded in pure love sounds pretty nice. But I keep fighting the fight for my kids. They truly have saved my life." After Jaime got so bad, she decided she wasn't going out like that and she quit treatment. She crashed even more. For a couple of months, she got even sicker (which she didn't think was even possible). However, eventually her body started to even itself out.

Jaime's gone from over 60 symptoms to about 20. She hates to admit to people that she stopped treatment and now feels a little better because she thinks that's a choice people have ot make for themselves. She plans on doing some natural stuff, but introducing it very slowly and gently. She also plans to do a lot of detoxing because she thinks it's important.

Pain is her worst symptom. She feels like her sacrum is splitting in half. She lays on tennis balls to release some of the pressure points, it feels like something is wrapped around her spine so much that she can feel it all the way through her stomach. Jaime is still very nauseated and after her cycles (you ladies know what I mean!) got so bad, that her obgyn put her on the pill. She hopes that by telling others some of her embarrassing symptoms that she might just be able to help others out. To be quite blunt, her menstrual cycle was so heavy that she would use both super plus tampons and a super pad and have to change them both within the hour. However, since her OB put her on the pill, she's basically had a period for the past 3 months. So now she's considering a hysterectomy. She's so scared to take this step and she's had so many surgeries.

Aside from the obvious prayer for their health, Jaime would like prayers for a few other things as well. She wants prayers for her children that they know how much Jaime loves them and how much God loves them. Jaime also is in terrible need of support from her family and friends. She has very little support and is being terribly hurt and terrible things are being said about her (Jaime told me the things, but I don't want to repeat them here on the blog to protect her). For the past 12 years, no matter how sick Jaime was, she went to every family function and though she couldn't stomach to eat, she'd help cook and clean up the messes. She also has to deal with the fact that other family members don't help at all.

Jaime also needs help with a financial break through. She thinks it would benefit her so much if they could just leave their home. Her neighbors and mean and nasty and her children can't even play in the front yard. However the market is crashing and they are upside down in the house that they can't afford to leave.

Molly's Update

2011-08-05T05:15:00.002-04:00

May 29th 2009, I featured Molly from Michigan. Molly is now 52 years old and I recently got in touch with her to find out how she has been doing. She began Rifing for Babeiosis. Molly thought she didn't have it, but her doctor felt that it couldn't hurt since it had been taking so long for her to recover. Rifing stirred up another monster and she herxed like crazy. She's been rifing for a year, but she's had some interruptions in getting truly aggressive. Molly is up to two Babs sessions per week. Molly's pain levels have improved as well as her overall health.

Last year, Molly lost two very important people in her life. It has really affected how her family feels. Then in early June, Molly's husband was diagnosed with stage IV Neuro Endocrine Cancer. This is a very aggressive cancer. Joe's Pet Scan showed that the cancer has metastasized to his entire body. This year has been very stressful and Molly's health as suffered.

Joe is responding very well to Chemotherapy and they haven't ruled out some alternative treatments. Molly says that while it may sound weird, she thinks he's going to be around for a while. They are praying for a miracle and aren't ruling anything out. Joe constantly displays a positive and friendly attitude which has kept Molly strong as well. Molly says, "He is an amazing man."

Please pray that Molly makes good decisions about her health so she can be well enough to care for her husband of 30 years. Please pray that if it is God's will that Joe be completely healed as well as his comfort during this horrendous journey.

When I first posted about Molly, I also posted this youtube video.

Christine's Biography

2011-08-04T16:45:00.001-04:00

Christine M. lives in Huntersville North Carolina, but she is from New York. She is a 44 year old late stage Lyme patient that has many of the classic symptoms of the disease. Prior to becoming ill, Christine was engaged to be married and worked in the Human Resource department of a Health Care Agency.

Some of the symptoms that plague Christine are swelling in her spine, head, legs and arms. She's has a burning sensation throughout her entire body, severe migraines and itchy skin. She feels a heaviness in her entire body making her body unable to move. She has nausea, muscles squeezing, nerves burning and severe heat intolerance above 65 degrees. Christine has stinging joint pain, cardiac issues and severe fatigue. Complications that have plagued her in addition to Lyme Disease are EBV virus, HHV6 virus, blood infections and Fibromyalgia. Christine also has Babesia.

Christine's treatment plan included IV Antibiotics for 4 1/2 months, but it had to be stopped due to complications with two kidney stones (one of which needed surgery), a gall stone (which is being left alone for now) and bad reactions to some of the antibiotics. She couldn't get into the Dr's office for her 2nd office visit per year. She's currently on the Byron White Protocol until she can see the Dr. again at the end of September.

As far as she knows, Christine doesn't have any family members with Lyme. Christine's specific prayer needs are mainly financial. Since her case is Late Stage and disability isn't enough to cover the cost of her LLMD. She appreciates any prayers on her behalf.

One Day at a Time: Jeremy Camp

Reviving the blog!

2011-08-03T09:59:00.004-04:00

It's been a while. It's been since 2010. I took an unannounced hiatus. Recently, I came across one of the Praying for Lymies buttons. It gave me an urging to come back. So I'm revamping things.

1. All of the old biographies will remain. If you come across any URL's that don't work, please let me know via a comment on that particular post. It's difficult to go through every post and find links that don't work.

2. Want to be featured? Leave a comment. Any ole comment will do, but please leave a way for me to contact you. If you don't, then I can't contact you. It's as simple as that. All comments are moderated so leave your email address for me to contact you. I will get back with you with a Questionaire. We'll connect on several different occasions to make sure that the biography is correct and then I'll set a date for it to be published.

3. First come, first served. I'll keep a list on the blog. Whoever returns the Questionnaire first, gets featured first. It's that simple. Where is the questionnaire? Look over to the left hand side and you'll see it. Otherwise you'll get it in your intial email contact with me.

4. NO MORE EMAILS! In the past I had utilized the "Email 2 Blog" function. I will no longer be utilizing this function. I was getting too many spam messages and very few actual messages. It was difficult to weed through so I decided that comments were better.

5. Want to leave a prayer for a lymie? Leave a comment at the end of their biography.

Go ahead .. what are you waiting for? Leave a comment so you can be featured!

Jessica's Biography

2010-12-02T11:30:00.001-05:00

Jessica is a 33 year old Lyme patient living in California. She is infected with Lyme Disease and Anoplasma. She probably has Babesia and Bartonella too.

Jessica suffers from muscle and joint pain. She also has numbness, tingling and burning mainly in her arms and legs, but those things can be felt in other places on her body including her face. She often has a rapid heart rate and can be over 200 beats per minute. She suffers from heart palpitations, dizziness/lightheaded, ringing in her ears, muscle spasms, twitching and fatigue. Jessica experiences temperature issues almost always feel cold, but has hot flashes. She has shortness of breath, ADD symptoms. The most scary issue involve her heart though the pain, dizziness and feeling lightheaded are bothersome too.

Jessica experienced her only known tick bite over 20 years ago. She's experienced severe stomach problems (Irritable Bowel Syndrome) and the fatigue started 15 to 20 years ago. The last 15 years or so, she's experienced most of the symptoms. The dizziness really started in around 10 years ago. Jessica felt weak in the knees and her fatigue increased along with insomnia.

Jessica was diagnosed with ADD seven years ago and began medications for it in the last two years, but she's had symptoms of ADD since elementary school. She began to get short of breath, having the heart palpitations and heart racing about 5 years ago. She's also been diagnosed with Asthma and inappropriate sinus tachycardia after a treadmill stress test showed that her heart rate went as high as 272. She was put on Beta Blockers. Jessica had a scary episode of severe muscle pain that left her with no strength in her arms to such extent that she couldn't even squeeze toothpaste out the tube. She had ongoing episodes of weakness, tingling and burning. She was told that this was anxiety, depression and possible Fibromyalgia.

Jessica saw a chriopractor/nutritionist who suggested that it could be Lyme Disease. Lab Corp testing was negative, but at this point she had read enough to know to try to find a Lyme Literate Doctor. She found one in San Diego and tested IGeneX positive and officially diagnosed April 28, 2010. Jessica decided to find a new Primary Care doctor after the last one saw the positive test and said she didn't have Lyme or any other serious condition. Her new doctor is well versed in treating Lyme and agreed to help her. Though due to the denial of disability, she had to see a third doctor ... and Infectious Disease Doctor. She actually agreed with the diagnosis and was concerned over the heart issues. She feels Jessica has Lyme Carditis. Since Jessica's most severe symptoms started 5 to 7 years ago, she's seen three family practice doctors, 2 cardiologist, 1 GP/Cardiologist, 1 Neurolgist, 1 Psychiastrist, Multiple ER and Urgent Care doctors prior to being diagnosed with Lyme Disease.

Jessica's LLMD felt she was too sick to start medications right away so Jessica began with supplements and added medication later. She is currently on Doxy, Mepron, Biaxin, Plquenil, artemisinin, teasel root, similax, transfer factor mulyi-immune, tinidazole, nystatin, magnesium, and a handful of other supplements and herbal tinctures. Jessica is supposed to be adding Levaquin for just 30 days. Once this is completed, she'll have a chest port put in for IV Rocephin for a minimum of six months.

None of Jessica's family has been tested, but she does have two daughters (ages 4 and 7) that need to be tested. Her biggest prayer request is that her disability gets approved and that her daughters don't have Lyme.

Comments

2010-11-02T06:18:00.003-04:00

I wanted to post a couple of "comments by Dayna" up here so that the intended people could be reached. :) I will leave out her email address in one of them. If you go down to your biography, you can find it.

This is for Debbie whom I featured in September 2009:

I am 24 years old and I live in Canada and my parents recently bought a house in Mesa, AZ. I was diagnosed with Lyme about 2 months after they purchased it. After we realized that Lyme could not be properly diagnosed and treated in Canada we knew we had to go to the States. Coincidentally, we found a LLMD 9 minutes away from our house who does conventional meds (IV therapy, oral antibiotics) as well as alternative/natural treatments such as saunas, foot detox, lymph drainage etc.

I was there for 3 months and I cant say I had any improvement with this drs protocol and we spent a tremendous amount of money (as we don't have insurance being canadians). However, i have talked to people who have had success so i guess it really depends on the person and if you are willing and have the funds to go this route. After i got back from AZ i still continued the drs protocol but still had no improvement and got beaten up pretty bad by all the antibiotics. I then discontinued this protocol as i felt there was little support by the dr after i left and still no change in my symptoms.

I am currently not on antibiotics and am working with a naturopath from new jersey who has Lyme as well as her whole family. So i hope this is my time to heal. I just wanted to share this with you b/c i no you were looking for a Lyme literate doc in AZ. Unfortunately, I didnt have success but you may want to try it. If you have any questions my email is (left blank). I wish you all the best as this is truly a nightmare, but there is hope!

This is for Jenny N whom I featured in December 2009.

Hi Jenny,

By reading your blog you have the most similar symptoms to me then anyone else i have met with Lyme. When i went to AZ my LLMD didn't understand the tightness in the throat symptom...I am now with a naturopath who said its a common symptom. What kinda treatment are you on have you had improvement with this symptom?

Hope your doing well.

Sincerely,
Dayna :)

Dayna's Biography

2010-10-31T13:54:00.000-04:00

Our next 24 year old Lyme friend lives in Winnipeg, Manitoba. For our US friends, that is in Canada. Dayna has three symptoms that are most disturbing to her. Those symptoms include a tightness/lump sensation in her throat, intense all over head pressure which includes the occasional sharp pain and bladder irritability. To Dayna, it feels as if there is always urine sitting in her urethra. Her other symptoms include eye floaters, occasional pain or tingling in her feet and hands. In addition, she has rashes off and on. Up until last year, Dayna was a very healthy and athletic person. She loved to go out with her friends and even went to school. However in the middle of July (2009), Dayna spent the day at her boyfriend's lake cabin. Upon returning home the next morning, her mom noticed a weird bite on her leg. Dayna thought nothing of it thinking it was nothing more than a mosquito bite since they are really bad in the Winnipeg area. Two weeks later though she just didn't feel right. She had a really weird feeling in her stomach and overall she just didn't feel well. She headed to the emergency room and all of her blood work returned normal.

Over the next few months, Dayna's health continued to escalate up and down. In December of 2009, she got her first major symptom of bladder irritability. She saw a Urologist who noted there was something major wrong with her bladder, but he had never seen it before in someone so young. By February of 2010, Dayna started getting a consistent feeling of tightness in her throat along with the lump sensation causing a shortness of breath. She saw two different ENT's and of course they found nothing wrong. By April, she began feeling pressure at the base of her skull and eventually the pressure was all over her head and entered her nasal cavity.

Dayna saw about 15 different specialists whom looked at her like she was crazy. The only doctor that thought something wasn't right was the Urologist. Dayna told him her other symptoms and asked if they could be related. He didn't think so, but he was the only one that truly believed that there was something wrong. She told her parents that she couldn't live like that anymore so they called her Urologist asking for Dayna to be admitted to the hospital. She stayed for four days undergoing various tests only to find nothing. Dayna was very distraught.

About two weeks later (at the end of April), she saw her Urologist again. He uttered the words she had been desperately waiting to hear. "Dayna I know what you have." He took her to a room and told her that she had Lyme Disease. Dayna had heard of Lyme, but wasn't quite sure what it was. Once she was asked to think back to where she could have been bitten, all of the pieces started coming together that she has been sick ever since she had been bitten at the lake. Of course, her Elisa test came back negative. However, her IgeneX Western Blot came back positive. In addition, she was diagnosed with Ehrlichiosis and three viruses. She realized right away there was no adequate treatment in Canada so she saw a LLMD in Arizona for three months. She used IV therapy with holistic and natural therapies. The treatment was unsuccessful for Dayna so she returned home following his protocol of oral antibiotics and detox remedies. The Urologist also gave her weekly IV's, but her body felt like she couldn't handle any more antibiotics.

Above all else, Dayna is thankful and fortunate that she has her Urologist. He's supported her since she first walked into his office. She doesn't know where she would be without his support. She can't believe there are so many people suffering with Lyme and can't get doctor's consent to perform the adequate blood work. Currently, Dayna is working with a Naturopath in New Jersey who also has Lyme Disease. This Naturopath said that antibiotics never worked for her and she healed through all natural supplements and detoxification. The Naturopath also believes that Dayna has a case of Babesia that needs to be treated before her Lyme can be healed. She's been on the new protocol for two weeks and the Naturopath is very uplifting and positive. Dayna is hoping that this is her time to heal.

Dayna's biggest prayer request is for the strength to get her through this struggle. She is ready to have her health back and prays the same thing for everyone else going through this. She prays that the people who have been ignorant towards individuals with Lyme Disease will eventually open up their eyes and start helping in the healing process instead of making matters worse. Lastly, she prays that they will allow for adequate treatment and diagnosing for current and future Lyme patients so that we all don't continue to suffer in the dark.

If you would like to post prayers or messages for Candice, go to the top to where it says "click here to post to blog" or leave a comment for her at the end of this post.

Praying for Lymies

2010-10-31T07:14:00.003-04:00

I'm still here. Take a moment to go through all the previous prayer biographies featuring 36 Lyme patients, 1 Lyme doctor and several updates on biographies. Over on the left, I have broken it down into a "dozen" at a time. This makes it a little easier to keep up with where you've left off. Also I have each post labeled with the Lyme friend's name and location to help you find friends and or others in your area. If you come across a post that needs a more specific label, let me know commenting on the blog post that needs it with what you think needs to be added. I will contemplate such a change to the labels for the post and fix it if needed.

Dayna's biography is almost complete so it will be posted soon. If you would like to be featured, leave a comment with your email address so I can respond via email. Those leaving email addresses for ME to respond to will be deleted in the comments as soon as send the email. Those leaving email address for OTHERS will remain in the comment suggestion unless you leave a request asking for it to be removed. :) (example of this is where Dayna left her address for a Lyme friend to contact her should she have any questions regarding a LLMD in Arizona ... I left it up for that Lyme friend to read. Should Dayna want me to remove it however, I can do so easily!).

New Biography

2010-10-30T07:10:00.003-04:00

There will be a possible new biography coming soon. I'm so excited to be featuring a new Lymie coming up in the next week or so. I just have to get her information from her. I'm still here. See I check comments every day!

Still Around

2010-08-04T07:17:00.003-04:00

For those that are wondering, I am still around. I check for new posts and new comments at least once a week. Sometimes more than that. IF you would like to be featured let me know and leave a way for me to contact you.

You can leave an email address for me to piece together like this:

whateveryourscreennameis at gmail dot com

prayers

2010-02-02T08:41:00.001-05:00

I don’t always post, but am praying for those featured here on your blog. I am lifting up Lisa and Jenny and her family. May God wrap His loving arms around them and bring them healing.

Renee

Lisa D's Update

2010-01-11T18:20:00.000-05:00

Remember Lisa D? Recently I reconnected with Lisa to find out how things were going.

Aside from Lyme Disease, Lisa's mother in law was re-diagnosed with a brain tumor. She spent most of the year with her. She took a turn for the worse and at the end of October she passed away. Please keep Lisa in your thoughts and prayers during this time.

At the end of 2009, Lisa and her husband saw their Lyme doctor. Her husband is doing much better. Lisa has also improved, but they are both still on their Lyme medications for at least another 6 months. Lisa has now been on them for a year straight. Lisa's doctor believes there is something else going on, but will test for that later.

Lisa wants everyone to know that she is praying for everyone that has Lyme, especially the young children that have been denied their childhood. She prays that God will make this a better year for all. In our healing and in our sickness, she says, "We need for the world to stop and look around, see those in pain and suffering and think of them."

It was my hope when I started this blog that we could reach out to others with Lyme Disease to show an outpouring of love and prayer. Please continue to pray for Lisa and her family.

Johnny Update

2010-01-04T18:48:00.000-05:00

Remember Johnny?

I recently reconnected with him to find out how he's been doing. Johnny no longer feels as if he's dying all the time. His dizziness has also improved. He has had so many things that have cleared up, but he is no where near like he was prior to getting Lyme Disease.

John's sleeping patterns are still not normal. He still has neurological damage which includes muscle twitching, spasms and vibrations. These things aren't near as severe as they were a year ago, but they are still there. Something that is extremely frustrating for John is that his brain function is horrible. He has difficulty completing sentences and spelling without mistakes.

Overall, he experiences functionality and is able to walk without pain. Currently, John is on a 5 week drug holiday. He is hoping for the best with no relapse. He desires your prayers for improvement. He believes a positive attitude is key to recovery, but that is easier said than done.

If you would like to submit a prayer for John, please leave a comment for him to read.

Jenny N.

2009-12-30T19:01:00.000-05:00

Jenny is a 33 year old Lyme patient from Connecticut. She has been diagnosed with Lyme, Babesia and Bartonella. In addition to these tick borne illnesses, she has also been diagnosed with Fibromyalgia, IBS, Dystaunomia, POTS, Endometriosis, OVarian Cysts, and IC.

Jenny doesn't recall a tick bite. After spending her first 7 years in Iowa, Jenny moved to Connecticut where she lived until 1990. At that time, she moved to another CT town. She still lives there. Jenny has considered herself a very sickly person since she was about 5 years old. Her doctors informed her parents that she was just a child with a weakened immune system which caused her to be sickly. She had numerous bouts of pneumonia and strep throat. She also seemed to pick up everything that went around.

In her 7th grade year of school, Jenny began having gastrointestinal issues and missed months of school. After test after test, she was diagnosed with IBS and sent away. She continued to live with that diagnosis with the help of medications. In 1995, she was diagnosed with an anxiety disorder and thus began Paxil for the next 12 years. She was unable to wean herself off of the Paxil until then because the withdrawls were so bad that she had to remain on them. Paxil also seemed to help control her IBS.

In 1997, Jenny gave birth to her son and later developed Ovarian Cysts and Endometriosis. In 2005, she was diagnosed with IC after having bladder issues. A mere two years later, a Rheumatologist diagnosed with her Fibromyalgia. After Jenny had Endometriosis surgery in October of 2008, things went downhill drastically. Within days, she was unable to stand alone. She had to hold onto walls, she lost her balance and had severe heart involvement. She could barely think due to the brain fog she experienced.

By this time, Jenny knew that there was something drastically wrong and began her quest on the internet. She continually came up with Lyme Disease, but was confused since she had continued to test negative for Lyme through all the years of testing. She found the nearest LLMD and was clinically diagnosed in November 2008. She has been on aggressive IV treatment since June with a very well known LLMD. She has been under his care since April of 2009.

Jenny also takes oral medications and supplements. As of this time, her LLMD plans to have her on IV until the spring. They will try to transition her strictly to oral medications at that point. Jenny was supposed to be off the IV by now, but she developed a PICC line infection and had to have her first line pulled. Now that she has her new line, she is continuing treatment.

The list of Jenny's symptoms are length. This biography would be remiss if I didn't include all of her symptoms. So in no particular order of intensity, Jenny's symptoms are as follows: dizziness, weakness in her legs, arms and hands, difficulty writing, dropping things, strange sensations in her throat and pain in her neck and throat. She experiences achiness in her lower back, difficult breathing where she feels as if she can't get enough air, blurry/fuzzy vision, shakiness and severe brain fog. Vibrations in her head, feeling of pressure and tingliness, headaches, exhaustion and insomnia also plague her. Jenny also has tightness in her throat and neck muscles, nausea, loss of appetite and extreme weight loss. Her hearing has changed and it now sounds like a tunnel. She sees spots and lines, is sensitive to light, noise and smells, is off balance and lightheaded. Jenny has oral thrust, heaviness in her head and body, heart racing even with low blood pressure and experiences burning under her skin sensations in her face, chest and arms. She isn't able to concentrate, has ringing in her ears, hot flashes, numbness and tingling in her face, arms, legs and tongue. Jenny is cold all the time, experiences dry coughs, anxiety, clammy feet and hands. Chills, heart palpitations, low grade fevers and shortness of breath are among Jenny's symptoms too. Overall, Jenny just doesn't feel well. She doesn't feel like doing anything, but lay down.

In addition to her own illness, Jenny has a 12 year old son who also has been diagnosed with Lyme Disease. Christian has been sick since the day he was born. He had terribly issues eating and couldn't keep anything down (including breast milk). Every time he would eat, he would get sick. At a mere 2 weeks old, he underwent an Endoscopy. The doctors speculated that his digestive tract was not fully developed and it appeared that he had acid reflux.

Christian continued to pick up every illness that went around which included pneumonia and many viral illnesses. His adenoids were removed in 2002 and 3 years later he had to have 1/2 of his thyroid removed because he had a large goiter. Over the past few years, he began developing severe night sweats, high fevers (which reached 105), dizziness, headaches and severe stomach upset. She went through every kind of specialist to find the cause of his problems including an Oncologist. In 2008, he had his tonsils removed because he had continual swollen glands. Each doctor could find nothing wrong and he was eventually diagnosed with Periodic Fever Syndrome. This past October 2009, Jenny took him to see the Dr. J in CT (the best pediatric Lyme Doctor). He was diagnosed with Lyme and Babesia. He is currently undergoing treatment.

Jenny's prayers are that God gives her family the strength to overcome such a terrible illness. She desires to come out on the other side of this healthier than they have ever been. She prays that God will bless them with wonderful health. She wants God to show her hope and help her keep the faith that they will overcome Lyme and company.

Dear Anonymous ....

2009-12-29T13:42:00.003-05:00

If you want to be featured, let me know by leaving a comment on this post. Please leave an email address so that we can correspond about your upcoming feature. I approve ALL comments and ALL post 2 blog messages. So you can write your email address in the comment and no one else will see it.

I have two anonymous commenter(s) that want to be featured, but I have no way to contact you. So please leave a comment in this message with your email address so that I can get in touch with you. (OR if I'm your friend on facebook, then you can leave me your name so I can contact you that way).

Charlene's Music

2009-12-27T07:15:00.000-05:00

First .... a little birdie told me that Charlene's birthday is today. So

Happy Birthday Charlene!

Second .. here's the song for Charlene. :)

Bring the Rain: Mercy Me

I can count a million times
People asking me how I
Can praise You with all that I've gone through
The question just amazes me
Can circumstances possibly
Change who I forever am in You
Maybe since my life was changed
Long before these rainy days
It's never really ever crossed my mind
To turn my back on you, oh Lord
My only shelter from the storm
But instead I draw closer through these times
So I pray

Bring me joy, bring me peace
Bring the chance to be free
Bring me anything that brings You glory
And I know there'll be days
When this life brings me pain
But if that's what it takes to praise You
Jesus, bring the rain

I am Yours regardless of
The dark clouds that may loom above
Because You are much greater than my pain
You who made a way for me
By suffering Your destiny
So tell me what's a little rain
So I pray

Holy, holy, holy
Is the Lord God Almighty

Charlene's biography

2009-12-25T19:01:00.000-05:00

I'd like to introduce our next Lymie to you all. Charlene is a 39 year old from Indiana. She is currently diagnosed with Chronic Lyme Disease and Fibromyalgia.

Charlene was originally bitten by a tick in 1985, but wasn't diagnosed with Lyme Disease until 1986. At the time, the doctor told her mom that she needed to seek appropriate treatment. However they never found help or support groups. Since they weren't able find this help, she was never treated appropriately. However, she was put on antibiotics by her GP. This was only for a couple weeks at a time here and there. She finally became well enough to work part time and even that was a struggle for Charlene. She was always so sick, but she always pushed herself to continue. In May of 2007, Charlene was bitten again and had the classic bulls eye rash. The Lyme Disease became full blown and she has been bed-ridden since then.

Charlene has excruciating pain that is constant 24 hours a day 7 days a week. She has cardiac symptoms and often feels as if she is going to pass out. She has difficulty walking and has sore & achy muscles. Often feels constant flu like symptoms along with sharp stabbing and throbbing pain. The treatments she has endured have been unsuccessful.

She has exhausted all options that she can think of. Her prayers are that God will grant her the strength she needs to endure the battle at hand. On a personal note, I would like for you all to pray that Charlene can find a physician willing to treat her complicated condition. I won't go into detail about what she shared, but please pray for an open minded physician that can help her. She currently isn't on any treatment for LD.

Coming soon

2009-12-22T20:12:00.002-05:00

In the next few days, I will be posting a new biography about Charlene. Keep your eyes peeled for a new opportunity to pray for a Lymie.

Also if you're interested in being featured, check out this post.

Make a comment and as Charlene found out, you'll get notified pretty quickly if you leave an email address for me to respond to. :o) I get notified of new emails whenever I open up my Yahoo Messenger. When I go to my Yahoo mail box, I get notified of new comments on Praying for Lymies. So if you leave your email address in the comments, I get them right away. I check my email pretty much twice a day. First thing in the morning when I wake (around 5am) and then when I get home. Sometimes it's more than that. Sometimes it's less than that.

One things for certain, most of the time a day doesn't go by when I don't check in the blog to see if I have new comments to approve.

So get me busy guys. I want to biographies to post. I want to do new updates on old biographies. Give me something to do in 2010. :)

Hi Strangers

2009-11-21T09:49:00.002-05:00

Know anyone that wants to be featured? Leave a comment with contact information. :)

Music for Valinda

2009-09-26T19:45:00.001-04:00

If everything comes down to love
Then just what am I afraid of
When I call out Your name
Something inside awakes in my soul
How quickly I forget I'm Yours

(PRE-CHORUS)
I'm not my own
I've been carried by You
All my life

(CHORUS)
Everything rides on hope now
Everything rides on faith somehow
When the world has broken me down
Your love sets me free

When my life is like a storm
Rising waters all I want is the shore
You say I'll be ok and
Make it through the rain
You are my shelter from the storm

(CHORUS)
Everything rides on hope now
Everything rides on faith somehow
When the world has broken me down
Your love sets me free

I am not my own
I've been carried by you all my life

(CHORUS)
Everything rides on hope now
Everything rides on faith somehow
When the world has broken me down
Your love sets me free
(Repeat 2x)

(CHORUS 2)
You've become my hearts desire
I will sing Your praises higher
Cause Your love sets me free
Your love sets me free
Your love sets me free

Prayers for a special LLMD

2009-09-26T07:41:00.003-04:00

A few days ago, I heard about the most amazing Dr. J in South Carolina. I didn't hear about "him" because I've known of him for years. This amazing doctor was practicing in North Carolina. I had the opportunity to choose him, but I decided to against the popular Lyme physician and go with a lesser known doctor because of all the legal trouble's Dr. J was in at the time.

Upon exiting the state of North Carolina, he met with the SC big wigs in the medical community and had their support. However, their support has dwindled in the last two years and he is no longer welcome. He has made the decision to move his practice to DC. I believe that most of his patients are informed of this decision. So based on this information, I ask for you to pray not only for him during his move, but also for his patients that have moved from his practice from NC to SC and now to DC.

I wondered about all of this and was already praying for all of these things when I heard the rest of the news. Two or three (and this is all hearsay about the time line) weeks ago, Dr. J found out that his lovely wife had breast cancer. I am not sure about the specifics of her breast cancer, but my MIL is a breast cancer survivor. Please pray that Dr. J's wife can become a survivor as well. This is such a tricky disease with stages and spreading and I am not sure what stage his wife is in or if it's spread to other areas.

As if this wasn't quite a lot on Dr. J's plate, a week after he found out about his wife ... they learned that their 5 year old daughter has Leukemia. Please pray for Dr. J, his wife and his daughter as they undergo treatments. It is a scary situation for all involved. The saying is that God won't give you anything you can't handle. Dr. J has proven already that he is one tough doctor and man. He has helped the AIDS & Lyme community greatly. I imagine this will also give him the power to not only fight these two communities, but he will also bring his greatness to fight for cancer patients as well.

Sp please please pray for Dr. J, his family and all of the Lyme community (and in addition to all cancer patients and survivors and families).

Debbie's Biography

2009-09-15T03:00:00.001-04:00

Our next featured Lymie is Debbie from Arizona. In 2000, this 45 year old woman was bedridden ill. The doctors found many illnesses which included Valley Fever, Toxoplasmosis, E Histolyitica, H Pylori, Candida, Epstein Barr, Herpes 1 2 7 8. It took Deb four years to find a Vector Borne Illness doctor that discovered her Lyme, Bartonella and Babesia.

In 2004, she began Antibiotic Treatment. Deb made slow (very slow) progress through 2007 when she was able to get out of bed for up to 10 hours. She even started to swim in her residential pool or walk daily. It was nice progress, but she was still too sick to work.

However in 2008, Deb got a very severe strain of the flu and relapsed reactivating infections. She had to start all over again. She is currently having a tougher time than ever. Deb has needed to be more aggressive by doing IV antibiotics and recently began going to an intensive Integrative Clinic.

By approaching her treatment using alternative & conventional therapies, she is being hit hard with symptoms. She's having trouble finding an LLMD who do full Lyme protocols and support IV medications. If anyone in or near Arizona knows of a doctor who do use IV antibiotics, please comment so that Deb can connect with you.

Deb has many symptoms. The things that bother her the most are being in severe pain, having severe fatigue, cognitive dysfunction, memory loss, concentration problems, blurry vision, insomnia, stiffness, joint pain, nausea, urination problems, constipation, and sensitivity to light and noise.

Deb has taken all of her resources and risked a lot to be able to pay for intensive treatment including selling her car and taking out an equity mortgage. She may wind up having to live with family or move if the treatment doesn't push her forward enough to take care of her home or be able to work to obtain income.

Please pray for Deb to receive strength to get through this time and healing energy will be sent her way. Please send positive thoughts, love, encouragement and healing thoughts in Deb's direction by leaving comments for her to read. Please pray for her.

She says "God Bless."

Katherine's Music

2009-09-11T01:47:00.000-04:00

Revelation Song by Hillsong (Holy Holy Holy)

Worthy is the, Lamb who was slain
Holy, Holy, is He
Sing a new song, to him who sits on
Heaven's mercy seat

Holy, Holy, Holy
Is the Lord God Almighty
Who was, and is, and is to come
With all creation I sing
Praise to the King of Kings
You are my everything
And I will adore You

Clothed in rainbows, of living color
Flashes of lightning, rolls of thunder
Blessing and honor, strength and glory and power be
to You the only wise King

Filled with wonder, awestruck wonder
At the mention of your name
Jesus your name is power
Breath, and living water
Such a marvelous mystery
Yeah...

Katherine M.'s Biography

2009-09-10T02:00:00.001-04:00

Our next featured Lymie is in her late 50's. Katherine M lives in Arizona and has been diagnosed with Lyme Disease (along with co-infections). Back in October of 2001, Katherine became too sick to continue to work, do household chores, walk and read. Katherine was finally diagnosed with Lyme Disease in 2003 and began treatment.

Katherine's largest symptom are cognitive. She can not sit upright or be on her feet longer than 5 to 20 minutes. She needs lots of downtime and often types lying down with the keyboard on her legs. Katherine is in a forced vegetative state from about 10 in the morning until 4 in the afternoon. She isn't sleeping. She just is there. She has lost her ability to multi-task, read novels, cook dinner and tires easily. Katherine has been taking Amoxicillian & Biaxin for several months now.

Katherine needs to be able to move closer to her LLMD and a primary care physician who will prescribe her the medications and testing that she needs. She is in need of insurance to provide as much as possible since she doesn't have the funds to pay out of pocket. She needs prayers to know where to move as well as approval from the Section 8 Housing to provide her a quiet and safe place to live. Prayers for funding for both housing and for treatment are needed as well. Once Katherine finds a new place to live she's hoping to find help with packing, moving and unpacking. So please pray that God sends her people to assist her with these needs.

She is hoping that she will be approved for workman's compensation and they will provide the treatment she needs to regain her health as well as funds to move closer to her LLMD. Katherine has been blessed by the donation of two power chairs. One is for when she can not hold herself upright. She's also been blessed with a service dog, SSI and a safe, quiet, clean place to live. She is hoping that section 8 housing will be providing help with household chores twice a month starting this month.

Katherine is slowly seeing improvements, but feels that a lack of funds is causing it to take so long. She is very thankful for the medications and supplements that have been provided. She is thankful for everyone thoughts & prayers and hopes this will help people know how to pray.

Coming Soon

2009-09-08T17:48:00.003-04:00

I've had one Lymie email about being featured. I can't wait to get Katherine's story online for everyone to read. Please know that if you want to be featured all you have to do is either leave a comment or read above to instructions on how to contact me. Make sure you leave your email address so I can contact you. It also makes it easier if you go ahead and fill out the questionnaire to send in.

Here is the survey again:

Name
Age
Location
Illnesses
Symptoms
Background Story
Treatment Plan
Family Members w/ it?
Specific Prayer Needs
Website if applicable
Email address so that I can contact you.

Please please please .. if you want to be featured, let me know by leaving a comment on this post. Please leave an email address so that we can correspond about your upcoming feature. I approve ALL comments and ALL post 2 blog messages. So you can write your email address in the comment and no one else will see it.

First come first serve. There is a list on the left hand side of people that have said they want to be featured, but that have not gotten me their survey back. So first people to get me back the survey will be featured first ... As requests come in, names will be added to the side bar so that I know what order the original requests came in.

Do you know someone that wants to be featured? Share with them this blog. Publish it on myspace, facebook and wherever else you know. Been featured in the past and want to give an update? Contact me via the comment section and we'll see what we can do. :D

For the Beauty of the Earth

2009-08-30T09:27:00.002-04:00

This hymn gives me chills. I sang it in a choir camp one year in my youth and it's one of my favorites.

If you want to be featured, let me know by posting a comment with your contact information. I approve all comments so your contact information will be left private.

Amy Z's Music

2009-07-31T13:03:00.000-04:00

For the Glory of Your Name Michelle Tumes

God You keep us without failing
As You watch us from above
In our comings and our goings
Sheltered by Your precious love
In the pouring rain of mercy
Comes the grace by which we're saved
For the glory of Your Name
For the glory of Your Name

You have touched our lives forever
Can we be the same again
May our hearts be ever faithful
Ever faithful as a friend
Let us live that we may serve You
Overflowing with Your praise
For the glory of Your Name
For the glory of Your Name

We behold the man of sorrows
Hanging there upon a cross
Where we wounded One so holy
Yet these wounds are life to us
For the blood You shed was perfect
And Your finished work remains
For the glory of Your Name
For the glory of Your Name

Now we life our eyes to heaven
See You seated on the throne
Still rejoicing in Your promise
This is where our hope is found
For we know that You are coming
Every tongue will sing Your fame
For the glory of Your Name
For the glory of Your Name

Amy Z's Biography

2009-07-30T12:59:00.000-04:00

Amy Z is a 27 year old Lyme patient that lives in Cincinnati Ohio. Amy has Lyme Disease, Babesia, CPN, Mycoplasma, Bartonella and Erlichia. Amy's doctor also suspects that there may be some foreign (tropical) infections that she may have picked up from internetional volunteer work based on her initial and recurring symptoms.

Amy struggles with a variety of symptoms, but the currently the symptoms that give her the most problems are severe fatigue, cognitive dysfunction, peripheral neuropathy and severe GI problems. She has nausea, gastropareisis and functional vagal neuropathy.

Amy fell ill very suddenly upon returning home from a medical mission trip to the mountains of Ecuador almost 5 years ago. She was a new RN graduate and had just recently passed her boards. She had a job that she loved, was active in her church and was very excited about her future. Life as she knew it suddenly changed when she fell ill. Of course her doctors couldn't figure out what was wrong with her. Amy went to them with severe GI problems and they progressed rapidly to involve neurological as well as flu like symptoms. She was never able to return to her full time job.

Even though Amy had abnormal test results, her doctors still weren't able to figure out what had caused the damage much less the severity of her symptoms. She saw specialist after specialist, but no one could help her. Amy tried everything in and out of the book to help relieve her symptoms including: acupuncture, traditional Chinese medicine, chiropractic, functional medicine, homeopathy, and naturopathic medicine. Some of them helped temporarily, but none of them stopped the progression of her illness.

After four years, she began to lose her vision. Amy grew so weak she felt as if she would die if she didn't find help soon. At that point, her Naturopath suggested that Amy might have Lyme Disease and insisted that she see an LLMD for treatment. Finally, she saw Dr. H in NY last summer and the ND was right. Much of the last year has been trial and error trying to find just the right protocol. Amy had a PICC Line placed this past spring and started IV Rocephin and combined that with several oral medications. She praises God that she is finally noticing progress with that combination of meds. It has renewed her hope that she can and will be well again.

Amy wants you all to pray that God will continue the good work that He has started by continuing to heal her. She wants God to guide her doctor in the treatment decisions especially since her GI symptoms have come back recently. Amy thanks God for how he has provided for her over the last few years. She could not have made it with her own strength. She feels it is truly a miracle that she has been able to work at all during this time. Please pray that God will continue to provide for her financially as she is single and only able to work part time to provide for herself.

Amy is now having to appeal her insurance company for IV coverage so she could use prayers that God will continue to move in her behalf. There was confusion by the insurance company and they have now denied two months worth of coverage and she is currently paying out of pocket for IV coverage. It is also her prayer that as God heals her that he will grant her with new hopes, goals and dreams. That He will put His will in Amy's heart so that she will only follow Him. Amy had given up on a future being sick so long. She needs God to guide her. She just wants to please God and in all that she does she wants to glorify, honor and obey Him. She wants her life to be useful for His purpose. She really misses being active in her church and community. She wants to be ready to "Go" when God says "Go."

Renee & Joel's Biographies

2009-07-17T06:00:00.000-04:00

Renee is our next featured Lyme along with her husband Joel. They are a married couple in their early 60's from the Midwest. Renee has Neurological Lyme Disease, Chronic Fatigue and Immune Dysfunction Syndrome (CFIDS), Myalgic Encephalomyelitis, and Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS). Renee suffers from chronic bone pain, muscle & joint pain, poly-neuropathy, brain fog, memory problems, tinnitus and other Lyme symptoms. Renee also has allergies to a lot of different foods, chemicals, grasses and molds.

Renee's Lyme Disease went undiagnosed for 23 years. In 1991, she was given a diagnosis of CFIDS. She has also been diagnosed with arthritis, autoimmune thyroid disease and MCS over the years. She got to 50 percent of her former self with the help of alternative medicine when she was probably reinfected from Joel's infection in 2000. As time passed, Renee began to get more sick until she was home-bound and has remained that way the last 5 years. She finally saw a LLMD thanks to a friend and was finally diagnosed with Neurological Lyme Disease and three co-infections (Bartonella, Babesia, and Erhlichia). Renee has been treated for the last two years with Antibiotics with neurological improvements and a bit more strength, but there has been no real changes in the quality of her life. She hopes to be going on herbs to continue killing the Lyme and Co-infections.

Joel has Neurological Lyme Disease. He has become extremely fatigued. He also has balance issues, peripheral numbness and weakness. Joel fell ill ten years ago and they were told it was some kind of Post Viral Syndrome. After he had been ill for a few months, he recovered and was able to return to work. However in the last couple of years, he began having symptoms again. In June of this year, he was diagnosed with Late Neurological Lyme disease. He has just started antibiotic treatment trying to regain enough energy to work again.

Renee has a funny name for her marriage. She calls it "Partners in Lyme." :o) Please pray that Renee can find the right treatment to regain health and have some quality of life which she hopes will include less pain. They are needing the church to grant Joel a sabbatical and that he will heal from Lyme swiftly. Renee has two blogs. Go visit them to get to know Renee better.

Lyme Living

Autumn Years

keep your eyes open

2009-07-13T18:07:00.003-04:00

I have a new biography to post in the next couple of days! I just have to edit and get it right before posting. Please if you know someone that wants to be featured contact me. It's the middle of July and I only have one biography to post (once it's ready).

The new biography will post tomorrow morning. (7/17)

Reminder

2009-07-10T15:45:00.003-04:00

If you know anyone that wants to be featured, fill out a comment with a way to contact you. I have to approve all comments so your email address will not be seen by everyone.

If I don't get back to you right away, I am going through some personal things.

June Review

2009-06-28T13:22:00.001-04:00

Review Day

Kayla 6/1

Lisa D. 6/3

Diana H 6/5

Julia 6/8

Nora 6/10

Victoria Wilcox 6/12

Victoria Wilguess 6/15

Monkey Girl 6/17

Renee's Guest Speaker 6/19

Rebekah 6/22

Candice Update 6/25

March & April Music of 2009

God With Us by Mercy Me
Hold Fast by Mercy Me
Prayer for a Friend by Casting Crowns
Holy is the Lord by Chris Tomlin
It is Well With my Soul Hymn
Bring the Rain by Mercy Me
Hero by Mariah Carey
Fix You by Coldplay

May Music of 2009
Return to Innocence by Enigma
In Better Hands by Natalie Grant
In Christ Alone by Newboys
Our Hope Endures by Natalie Grant
This is the Air I Breathe by Hillsong
East to West by Casting Crowns AND
Who Am I? by Casting Crowns
Lift Me Up by Kate Voegele
You Invite Me In sung by Meredith Andrews
Arise by Chris Sligh
He Reigns by Newsboys
Walk by Faith by Jeremy Camp
Bridge Over Troubled Water by Michael W. Smith

June Music of 2009
I Will Rise by Chris Tomlin
We Fall Down by Chris Tomlin
Amazing by Janelle
Heart of Worship
Healing Hand by Jeremy Camp
How Great is Our God by Chris Tomlin
One Day at a Time by Jeremy Camp
Healing Rain by Michael W. Smith
Carried Away by Sonic Flood

Hallelujah !

2009-06-27T12:20:00.004-04:00

I want to share a little what I received today. I am not sharing the whole message because it included an email address, but I want everyone to read what Keesha wrote me today. I encourage all of you that want to be featured to write me and send the questionnaire.

****

Praise the Lord for your site. Things have been somewhat reclusive here in regards to support for this Lyme experience we have been going through. Just a little Bio : My oldest daughter is 11 and has Lyme (and) co infections Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever and Tick Typhus. She
is on month 4 of oral antibiotics. She also has a condition called Syringomyelia - fancy word for having cerebral spinal fluid in the spinal column. This issue further complicates her treatment. She is in pain everyday - suffering from a long list of symptoms which I can list at another time. Thank you for your site. It blesses and encourages me to see it. I will take time later this evening to read more of it !

Thanks and God bless,
Keesha

Want to be a featured Lymie?

2009-06-27T08:06:00.004-04:00

Survey to be featured:

Name
Age
Location
Illnesses
Symptoms
Background Story
Treatment Plan
Family Members w/ it?
Specific Prayer Needs
Website if applicable (aka your blog)
Email address so that I can contact you.

Please please please .. if you want to be featured, let me know by leaving a comment on this post. Please leave an email address so that we can correspond about your upcoming feature. I have to approve ALL comments. So you can write your email address in the comment and no one else will see it.

First come first serve. As requests come in, names will be added to the side bar so that I know what order the original requests came in. Do you know someone that wants to be featured? Share with them this blog. Publish it on myspace, facebook and wherever else you know. Been featured in the past and want to give an update like Candice? Contact me via the comment section and we'll see what we can do. :D

Candice Update

2009-06-25T01:00:00.002-04:00

Remember Candice? Candice is doing rather poorly right now. She needs urgent prayers. Her Gastrointestinal Tract is a complete mess. She can only eat 5 foods and she is still in pain when she eats those. As you can imagine it gets quite boring eating the same 5 foods. So if anyone has suggestions on the following: Asparagus, Broccoli, Pears, Beans (e.g. Lentils), and sweet potato (but not Yams).

She is seeing a new doctor, but the treatments aren't helping yet and it has proven to be a hefty financial burden. Candice had applied for SSI and was hoping it would help with the financial things, but she received a letter recently that they denied her based on old medical records. These were all from a doctor that does not believe in Chronic Lyme Disease.

Candice still suffers from dizziness, profound fatigue, shortness of breath, malabsorption, irregular heart beat, head pressure and pain in her chest, left arm, upper back, lung and sinuses. With Frequent Gallbladder attacks, her weight is still not approving as is at a dismal 100 pounds at 5'7. Her white blood cells (eosinophils) keep rising and her blood pressure falls to 70/50. Candice has severe brain fog including occasional episodes where she is unable to read at all or process any form of information.

All of this leaves Candice feeling stressed, debilitated and sad. She had an appointment with Dr. H's ND (which will be 1400 dollars) on Tuesday. She is hoping that something will come of that appointment. She knows she has some big decisions to make, but doesn't know who to turn to or what kinds of treatment to take a stab at since her body can't handle what it's given.

*** I believe her new treatment plan includes using Tindamax ***

music for Rebekah

2009-06-23T03:00:00.000-04:00

Carried Away by Sonicflood

You are the open door to freedom
You are the only hope I have
The reason in my reason
The only thing that lasts
How could I begin to settle
When all within me longs
To step into the shelter
Of your everlasting arms

I wanna get carried away
I wanna be tossed by your waves
I don't care where or how deep
I'm gonna jump in with both feet
I wanna get carried away
I wanna get lost in your waves
I wanna be held by your truth
I wanna behold all of you
I'm gonna be all yours today
I wanna get carried away

Some say You're far away
But I know You're here with me
I could go anywhere
And still you'd be there with me
I know You're with me

Prayers for Rebekah

2009-06-22T20:18:00.002-04:00

Lord

We give thanks that Rebekah has the opportunity to come to the US for help with her Lyme Disease.

Please be with her as she struggles with the long airplane trip and all the symptoms that continue to cause her deep concern. Lord reach down and touch her with your healing hands. We give thanks for your promises to us, you children. Promises that if we ask we shall receive.

In Jesus name

Amen

Renee

Prayers for Rebekah

2009-06-22T16:21:00.002-04:00

Dear Lord I pray for healing for Rebekah. I pray for strength for her very supportive husband to see her though this ordeal. I pray for her children, that they understand and support their parents and also for comfort and healing for them. I pray for special healing graces for Rebekah as she continues her Lyme journey.

Thank you, Lord, for hearing my prayers.

Molly Caporale

Surprise Molly!!!

2009-06-22T15:31:00.000-04:00

Just wanted to publicly wish you a very Happy Birthday!

Rebekah's Biography

2009-06-22T05:21:00.004-04:00

This is a fairly extensive story. Since Rebekah shared so much and I didn't really want to leave anything out what I have done here is break it up into parts. That way if you aren't able to read all of this at one time, there are stopping points (like chapters in a book). There are six parts in total. Each part contains 2 or 3 paragraphs. I hope this helps. :o)

Part One:

Our next featured Lymie is Rebekah. She is almost 35 (Happy Birthday tomorrow in fact). Rebekah is a United States Citizen, but she currently lives in Germany with her husband. Her husband and two sons are German. She married at the age of 22 after only living in Germany since she was 21.

Rebekah was seeing a private LLMD in Germany. She had to to quit seeing the him because she couldn't afford it. He diagnosed her with Chronic Persisting Lyme Disease. She was just retested and discovered that her IgM is positive and her IgG is negative. It always looks as if she has a fresh case of Lyme Disease since her body doesn't create an immune reaction to the bacteria. However usually her tests are either negative or equivocal (meaning not positive or not negative).

Everything started back in April or May of 2006. She was susceptible to Lyme Disease because she was very active outdoors. Rebekah spent a lot of time in the woods with her kids or biking outdoors. She often would take picnics with her family and sometimes just sit in the fields. Around the time Rebekah believes she contracted Lyme Disease, she was wading in a brook with her children where many deer come to drink. Fortunately, her sons and husband did not get it. She praises God for that.

Part Two:

Her sons attended an English speaking pre-school at the church they attended, which is also in the woods. One other child had Lyme Disease. Even though the child's mother and Rebekah were very good friends, she never understood it. He seemed really tired and pale, but otherwise Rebekah didn't notice it much. One day his mom noticed the rash and was able to get it treated before he became chronic. Rebekah was very busy at the time and didn't pay enough attention.

She thinks she remembers once pulling a tick off and asking, "What if I get Lyme Disease like ..." to her husband. Since she was already paranoid about lice, her husband assumed that she was being bug paranoid. They were leaving to go to the US in May of 2006 to visit family in West Virginia and Rebekah forgot about it all. The typical EM rash popped up right before they left. There were also some strips in other places. She had one on her arm that was the typical bulls eye rash. She didn't make time to go to the doctor since she had to prepare for her trip to the US.

Upon returning home, she showed the EM to her mother (who was a nurse), brother and sisters, but no one recognized it. It was suggested that Rebekah call one of her aunts (a pediatrician) for advice, but because she was on vacation she didn't really want to because she knew her aunt would suggest tests. She now knows that this was really stupid. Someone else suggested applying cortisone cream and her rash faded.

Part Three:

She started getting migraines and noise sensitivity in August of 2006. Ahe had never had migraines until then. She felt extremely tired like she was coming down with the flu. Rebekah went to the doctor since she used to have chronic sinus infections. The doctor prescribed her a couple of weeks of Doxy for a sinus infection. She felt worst at first, but then started to feel better. Rebekah started taking regular naps and feeling more and more tired. In September of 2006, they went for Italy for 5 days to celebrate their 10th anniversary. Her arms felt heavy when she was rolling her suitcase behind her.

At this time there were several things that bothered her and caused her pain. These combined things caused her to see a Gynecologist upon returning from Italy. She feared she had cancer. She Gynecologist said there was no cancer so Rebekah joined a gym thinking she just needed to get in better shape. Exercising caused her to feel like an 80 year old woman. Her body felt heavy and often felt like she would black out. Her heart raced and would not slow down during the cool down cycle. Pain shifted from her wrists to her arm, elbow and shoulder.

Tendinitis was a thought so her physician suggested Ibuprofen. It only kept getting worse even on rest so she went to a visit a Neurologist. She saw a Neurosurgeon and was asked about her activities and asked whether she might have gotten bitten by a tick. She told about all of her outdoor hobbies and had a Lyme Disease test. It came back positive and the doctor gave her a prescription for Doxycycline. She immediately felt worse and got killer migraines.

Part Four:

The Neurosurgeon wanted her to go to the hospital and after a few days she had a friend watch the kids and she had a spinal tap at a University Hospital. Somehow she wound up admitted at another hospital and was on IV antibiotics. She felt as if she were going to die. She kept praying and crying out to the Lord, at some point after about 3 days, she had the idea to refuse the IV, as every time the nurse started the IV the vomiting progressed.

She felt alone because her husband could only stay no more than hour since he had to get back to the kids. Her roommate on the other hand had visitors constantly and some even at 11pm at night. After a week they let her go home because she lied and told them she was feeling better. Also her Lyme test came back negative. They didn't have a clue. She was confused about the Lyme test because her friends would rejoice over her healing yet Rebekah still felt so desperately ill. Some of her friends tried to convince Rebekah that she she had failed to claim her healing and that was the reason she was still sick. It took her about four months to realize that even though God still loved her that she had not been healed yet.

Since Germany goes by the IDSA guidelines for treatment, it has been difficult for Rebekah to obtain antibiotic treatment since her tests are equivocal. Doctors go bankrupt in Germany in the same way they are in the US, therefore those German LLMD's are private and are not covered by normal insurance companies. Since this is the case, they can prescribe more innovative therapies without getting in trouble with the insurance companies. Since Rebekah is neither privately insured or wealthy, those options are a vague dream at most. Many Lyme patients in Germany go to other countries to get medications and treatment modalities they feel they might profit from. One place that Rebekah would love to go claims an 80 % success rate. Not only is it 5 hours away, but she doesn't know how she would be able to afford it.

Part Five:

She has been self medicating mostly since 2007. She pulses her medications for four days and takes a break on the weekends. She found a new doctor who prescribed a different antibiotic, but she found that it gave her terrible Herx reactions and she didn't seem to improve much. Currently she is only on Doxy and that makes her sick to her stomach. She is trying to find another LLMD that she can either afford or that will take her insurance. Many doctors in the area are either non-committal or refer her to someone else.

This is very stressful as you can imagine and she has to do a lot of it alone. In Germany, they prescribe pain medications like candy. She tries to go off her pain medications, but when she does she feels like being dead would be a better alternative so she remains on them. In addition to the Doxy and the pain medications, she also takes natural things. Her immune system can't cope with everything going on. She's heading to the US in 2 weeks and she will be switching to another antibiotic that isn't so sun sensitive.

Final Part:

Currently her symptoms are improved compared to a month ago when she was on Minocycline.
Rebekah's most common symptoms are chronic fatigue by activity, muscle stiffness, nerve pain throughout my whole body, trouble focusing on conversations, nervousness and anxiety. She also has headaches, a carpal tunnel feeling, joint pain without swelling, always being too cold or hot, constipation, insomnia late at night. She finds that her twitching and heart arrhythmia are better on the antibiotics and in fact are almost gone. A big problem is brain fog has trouble concentrating on even the most simple tasks.

She thanks God for her family and that her husband is by her side and supports her through all of this. Her family could use a lot of prayer. Her children love her, but think she can be a real bore. She used to take them all sorts of places, but now can only drive short distances. Her husband is now forced to do most of the household chores which she used to do. It's a strain on him because he already works full time. She thanks God she can still manage some of the daily activities. She could use prayer for her upcoming flight because long stretches where she has to stay still make her extremely uncomfortable. She will be on an 8 hour flight along with another 7 hours to arrive to her destination.

Please pray for Rebekah as she goes through this Lyme struggle in another country.

Review Day

2009-06-21T12:18:00.001-04:00

Review Day

Kayla 6/1

Lisa D. 6/3

Diana H 6/5

Julia 6/8

Nora 6/10

Victoria Wilcox 6/12

Victoria Wilguess 6/15

Monkey Girl 6/17

Renee's Guest Speaker 6/19

March & April Music of 2009

God With Us by Mercy Me
Hold Fast by Mercy Me
Prayer for a Friend by Casting Crowns
Holy is the Lord by Chris Tomlin
It is Well With my Soul Hymn
Bring the Rain by Mercy Me
Hero by Mariah Carey
Fix You by Coldplay

May Music of 2009
Return to Innocence by Enigma
In Better Hands by Natalie Grant
In Christ Alone by Newboys
Our Hope Endures by Natalie Grant
This is the Air I Breathe by Hillsong
East to West by Casting Crowns AND
Who Am I? by Casting Crowns
Lift Me Up by Kate Voegele
You Invite Me In sung by Meredith Andrews
Arise by Chris Sligh
He Reigns by Newsboys
Walk by Faith by Jeremy Camp
Bridge Over Troubled Water by Michael W. Smith

June Music of 2009
I Will Rise by Chris Tomlin
We Fall Down by Chris Tomlin
Amazing by Janelle
Heart of Worship
Healing Hand by Jeremy Camp
How Great is Our God by Chris Tomlin
One Day at a Time by Jeremy Camp
Healing Rain by Michael W. Smith

Guest Speaker Friday

2009-06-19T03:00:00.000-04:00

So in the back of my mind, I wondered what I would do if I didn't have a featured biography. Well, I thought that I would write articles of Lyme Disease or something of the sort. Then it struck me. I could have Guest Speakers. If any of you has an "article" or something you've written on your blog that might be appropriate for this one, let me know if I can use it for the blog. Of course I would give you credit and link it back to your blog. If you have a biography on Praying for Lymies, I would also link to that as well. So here is our very first ... Guest Speaker.

Renee has become a very close Lyme friend of mine. Renee has not been a featured Lymie on the blog yet (hint hint Renee), but she has become one of my first supporters of not only Praying for Lymies, but prior to that my personal Blog Living the Lyme Life.

She posted an "article" she had written on her blog last year and it was posted on September 27th 2008. Here it is in it's entirety. I "broke it up" in order to be easier on the eyes. Hope you enjoy this article on "Ask, Seek and Knock."

By Renee of Renee's Reflections "Ask, Seek and Knock."

Matthew 6: 7 “Ask and it will be given you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.”

Are there times in your life when you question God? Have you ever questioned His plan for your life? Have you wondered if He has abandoned you, or turned His back on you while He allowed Satan to “sift you like wheat”? Do you find yourself asking Him “why” or “how” or “when”? If you have, you are certainly not alone.

In the past I have questioned God’s plan for my life and my husband's . I have gone before Him with a multitude of emotions, often questioning the purpose behind all the ups and downs that have challenged us both. I must admit that at times I have felt ignored, forgotten, “toyed with”, and even abandoned by my Heavenly Father. I have cried out to God~ " Why.....? When...........? How.........?"

There seems to be a process we go through during certain trials in our lives, and during these times of discouragement we often ask God the why, how, and when questions. I believe this is truly okay with Him ~ we can trust God 100% with all our emotions, our “real selves” as Marilyn Meberg says in her Women of Faith conferences. God can handle anything that comes from deep within us. He loves us unconditionally.

When we move on in this process, we begin to seek out answers to our questions in the Bible, Christian literature, prayer, and the words of others. In the Bible God speaks often on how much He loves us. He tells us He is with us always and that He will NOT abandon us. We can find these promises over and over again throughout the scriptures. In seeking answers, we are able to find comfort and assurance of His presence in our lives, and the fulfillment of His promises.

Eventually we come full circle as we knock on God’s door and open our repentant hearts to His plan, TRUSTING HIM, even when we don’t understand our circumstances. TRUSTING HIM even when we don’t get all the answers to our questions. He provides the strength we need during these times, and often it is gift wrapped with joy when we look at the blessings that come from our difficult circumstances.

In the past year this process has been repeated in my life, and God has always been patient as He listened to my questions and my despair. It is during these times that my faith has been stretched and challenged…during these times that I began the process of seeking. As I search for answers in His Word or my favorite Christian writings, I am able to look back at other times I have been going through this process and see the answers that eventually came.

My written remarks in my Bible and books have helped me to find peace in my circumstances. Of course there are also times that the answers I was seeking did not come, but I have felt God’s presence as He answered my “asking, seeking, and knocking” and I trusted in His plan for our life. When life seems to be one struggle after another, we are still able to find peace, joy, and hope. We find peace in knowing God loves us and wants what is best for us.

We can believe that He is in control of today and all our tomorrows. We find joy in the blessings we discover in the midst of difficult circumstances. And we live by hope~ hope in the knowledge that God loves us and walks with us on every step of our journey. We find hope in the knowledge of the perfect life that awaits us in eternity. One of my favorite Bible verses gives me hope that I hang on to when life is difficult.

We hear God’s promises for all of us in Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for good and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” Verse 12 and 13 go on to say, “Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me; when you seek me with all your heart.”

When life gets tough, and you begin to ask, seek, and knock, remember God’s promises. Find strength and hope in how much He loves and cares for you, and take comfort in the beautiful plan He has for your life here on earth and more importantly, in eternity.

Music for Monkey Girl

2009-06-18T03:00:00.000-04:00

Healing Rain Michael W. Smith

Healing rain is coming down
It's coming nearer to this old town
Rich and poor, weak and strong
It's bringing mercy, it won't be long

Healing rain is coming down
It's coming closer to the lost and found
Tears of joy, and tears of shame
Are washed forever in Jesus' name

Healing rain, it comes with fire
So let it fall and take us higher
Healing rain, I'm not afraid
To be washed in Heaven's rain

Lift your heads, let us return
To the mercy seat where time began
And in your eyes, I see the pain
Come soak this dry heart with healing rain

And only You, the Son of man
Can take a leper and let him stand
So lift your hands, they can be held
By someone greater, the great I Am

Healing rain, it comes with fire
So let it fall and take us higher
Healing rain, I'm not afraid
To be washed in Heaven's rain

To be washed in Heaven's rain...

Healing rain is falling down
Healing rain is falling down
I'm not afraid
I'm not afraid...

Monkey Girl's Biography

2009-06-17T03:00:00.001-04:00

Monkey Girl (who wants to remain anonymous) is a 41 year old Lyme patient who lives in Washington State. She most likely got Lyme in Singapore where she lived for a few years or in the Northern California area where she grew up.

MG tested positive for Lyme Disease, Babesia and Bartonella in March of 2008. MG's Lyme doctor did not test her for any other co-infections since the treatments for them are the same. Ten years ago, MG began having gastro difficulties including diarrhea and horrible stomach & intestinal pains. The first round of doctor's MG went to tested for all types of Digestive Disorders.

By the time MG was 30 years old, she had already had a sigmoidoscopy, colonoscopy, CT scans, endless blood work, etc…the only to be labeled with an IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome)diagnosis. Since they never did find out the problem, she feels this is a non-diagnosis. MG would begin to break out in severe hives from head to toe as her "attacks" progressed. She would be sitting on the toilet for hours in pain. MG's blood pressure would drop so quickly that she would pass out while on the toilet. She was hospitalized during at least 4 to 5 of these attacks. She spent one of the attacks in the hospital for 5 days because the doctors couldn't control her pain.

A new more distrubing symptom was added to her list of symptoms each and every year. The doctors thought she had IBS and hives, labeling it as possible autoimmune hives. Then severe fatique started settling in, joint pain in her hands, wrists and shoulders soon followed.

By the time MG moved to Washington, she was a complete mess. Her thryoid began growing nodules at an alarming rate and completely stopped functioning in 2007. She had two surgeries to remove her sick thyroid at the end of 2007 and had 2 biopsies that showed pre-cancerous cell change. The thryoid problems distracted her doctors into thinking her thyroid had been the problem all along. Even MG believed this for a while. However, six motnhs after her surgery ... the fatigue and joint pain was unbearable.

Still having bouts of hives, MG was referred to an Infectious Disease Specialist in Seattle. The specialist was convinced for six months that MG had Mastocytosis and she had a bone marrow biopsy. The diagnosis was plausible as the symptoms she was having fit it 100%. However, her bone marrow biopsy came back negative. The Infection Disease Specialist sent MG on her way with no explanation. The Oncologist did note that there were some irregularities, but didn't know what they meant.

Of course all of this caused MG to be depressed and overwhelmed. She was sure they would never get to the answers of her medical problems. The doctors began implying that her problems were all psychosomatic and that all she needed were anti-depressants. This caused her to be even more depressed because she couldn't believe that all her pain and physical problems would go away with an anti-depressant each day.

MG said, "It became, in my mind, ‘the chicken or the egg argument’ which came first the illness or the depression. To me, I was only depressed because of my illness…but the doctors didn’t see it that way."

After finally hooking up with a Homeopathic Doctor in late 2007/ Early 2008 because she wasn't getting anywhere. She sent in tests for Lupus, MS, Rheumatoid Arthritis, and even MG was thinking that Autoimmune Disease had to be the answer. What else could it be she thought.

Fortunately, MG had a close friend in California that kept pestering her to get a Lyme Disease test. She kept telling her that it couldn't possibly be Lyme because she doesn't remember ever having a tick bite. She conventiently forgot all of the ticks she had taken off their dogs or all the ticks that she & her brother used to get going camping in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Her selective memory was kicking in.

After all of her tests returned negative, the ND doctor was stuck. However, MG's blood work did show high inflammatory levels and she also had a continous fever between 100 and 101.5 for going on 3 to 4 years. For what it's worth, this never seemed to bother her regular doctors even though she told them she had a fever every time she went into the doctor's office.

At this time, the ND consulted a colleague who also suggested a test for Lyme. At this point, they decided to test just to eliminate it from the list of possibilities. Fortunately, the ND knew to contact IgeneX Labs in California to inquire as to which tests to order. Three weeks later, the ND called to tell MG that she tested positive for Lyme Disease. Four weeks later, the test came back positive for Babesia and Bartonella. She was referred to a LLMD in Seattle. She was completely overwhelmed. It took a couple of months for the diagnosis to sink in.

MG's husband was treated for Bartonella solely based on her Lyme doctor's advice. Early reports are showing that Bartonella (and probably other co-infections) can be sexually transmitted. The LLMD's worry was that with all the treatment that her husband would keep re-infecting me. Her husband doesn't show any signs of Lyme or co-infections.

MG has not had her daughters tested yet. They are not showing signs of sickness and it's a sensitive area of discussion. Since they aren't sure when or where MG contracted Lyme, she can't be sure 100% and they are not ready to put them through the stress of testing since they both have a fear of needles.

MG has a blog where she discusses not only Lyme, but her life as well.

(http://existentialdrama.blogspot.com/)

She purposely chose not to have a Lyme-Only blog. She refuses to let Lyme and co-infections be her whole life. She keeps her readers posted on her progress and discuss the realities of Lyme Disease since there is a lot of fictitious information out there .... especially from our own government and CDC. The controversy is very real and not unlike the controversy at the beginning of the AIDS crisis. Many of her readers never knew someone with Lyme. She is trying to use that as an educational Opportunity.

Go visit her blog to support her.

Prayers for Victoria and her family

2009-06-16T05:30:00.000-04:00

Dear Lord, please help young Victoria deal with the pain and suffering of her illness. I pray for healing for her and for her family as they deal with Lyme Disease and any other issues they may have.

Thank you, Lord, for hearing my prayers.

Music for Victoria Wilguess

2009-06-16T03:00:00.001-04:00

One Day at a Time
Jeremy Camp

One day at a time i will walk this road i've traveled so far
One day at a time well i know i will carry on
One day at a time i can see you took my life this far
One day at a time I will take this faith along

All this hope i breathe is given by the hand that carries me
Until I'm complete and i'll take all i will
To understand this plan you have for me, for me

I've been shut up shut down held out held down
In ways i never knew i would
I CAN feel your fullness in my life
Well i've been burned out broken torn out torn down
In ways i never knew i would
I CAN feel your fullness in my life

One day at a time I will take these words you've given me
One day at a time I will rest in knowing you
One day at a time I will share this gift you've given me
One day at a time I will walk these valleys through

All I know is that I see how much my heart
Is longing to be cradled by your side
And i'll give all i can to one day soon
Be held by your hand, by your hand

In all these things i will press on
I'll be with you i know it wont be long

Victoria Wilguess' Biography

2009-06-14T23:35:00.000-04:00

Usually post these at 3:00 EST, but there was a scheduled outtage for the blog at that time. So I went and posted it earlier.

Please join me in praying for another Lymie, our third Victoria. Victoria Wilguess is from Oklahoma. Victoria has been diagnosed with Fibromyalgia, Lyme Disease and co-infections. Victoria has pain all over, weakness, fevers, nausea, dizziness, insomnia, brain fog, migraines and horrible fatigue. She has also lost her ability to concentrate.

Three and a half years ago, Victoria was bitten by a tick while at a church retreat. She didn't know what damage this could cause so she pulled it out and didn't tell anyone about it. Doctors in Oklahoma doesn't believe that Lyme Disease exists there. A year later (during her 8th grade year), Victoria was diagnosed with Mono. She has really bad fatigue, joint pain, headaches, insomnia and a low grade fever. She was out of school for three weeks and never fully recovered from it.

Over the next few months, she kept having symptoms on and off. Victoria would come home from school, sleep, eat dinner and go back to bed. She was easily in bed by 8:30 every night and she wasn't able to climb stairs easily. Several trips were made to the Primary Care Physician and lost of tests were run. Of course nothing was found to be wrong and was told that it was from the Mono. Victoria and her family were fine with that answer and she made it through her 8th grade year.

Victoria was really excited to start high school, but a few weeks into school she got really sick again. She began to miss a lot of school and all she could do was stay on the couch. She saw a specialist in Tulsa that ran more tests, but the end results were that she was still struggling with Mono. Victoria was extremely frustrated at this time. She knew that the doctors were missing something. Just like many who have followed the same path, she went to doctor after doctor and they couldn't find anything wrong with her. Victoria tried to ignore her symptoms and wanted just to make it to summer.

During last summer (between her freshman and sophomore year), Victoria started going downhill. She kept herself busy with mission trips and church camp even though she was completely exhausted. She began having horrible fatigue, pain all over and couldn't sleep in the latter part of the summer. She would also run a fever for no reason at all. Victoria felt as if she had the flu all the time.

Every morning of Victoria's sophomore year was such a struggle. She would have to leave school early a few days every week because of the horrilbe pain and fatigue. In October, she finally saw a Pediatric Rheumatologist. After a full exam, she was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia. The specialist put her on strong medications. Victoria was scheduled to go for mission trips in Europe, but blacked out twice the night before going. She woke up and didn't know where she was. After an emergency call to the On-call rheumatologist, she stopped all of her medications. She went onto Europe and stayed for two weeks. After returning home, she went to school for one week. She didn't realize this would be her last week at school.. Her symptoms never let up and she was sick all the time. She went to a natural clinic every day. She only went to church and the clinic.

They heard about a clinic in Reno, Nevada that deals with some of the worst and hardest to treat diseases. They use some conventional medicine but mostly natural medicine. They had now done some research and suspected that Victoria had Lyme Disease. The clinic in Reno specializes in Lyme. On December 2nd, they flew to Reno. She went to the clinic and the next day, December 3rd, Victoria was diagnosed with Stage 3 Lyme Disease. She stayed for 3 weeks for treatment.

They got home a few days before Christmas and continued doing shots and homepathic medications. They had to go back to the clinic again mid-January. She started back at school as a homebound student. That means that she would get assignments from the internet with a teacher coming to her house once a week. It also will help make sure she gets through her sophomore year of high school. She stayed in Reno for 2 weeks and returned home.

Victoria started having better days and she finished up Driver's Education so that she could get her license. Even though she had a day of Extreme Pain and could barely walk, she was able to get her license. In February & March, she went to the hospital off and on with pain and weakness receiving fluids and pain medicine. After staying in the ER for 7 hours, the ER doctors finally admitted her. She wasn't given anything once she got up on the floor bcause they didn't know anything about Lyme. After a day and a half of nothing, they released her. On April 3rd, she got a PICC line put in and started at home IV treatments. She goes to the ER at least once a week and sometimes more.

She's trying to find a doctor that will take her case in Oklahoma. (and as a personal plea from ME .. if you know of a LLMD that can help her in Oklahoma ... get in touch with me so I can pass this information onto Victoria).

On May 11, her church held a prayer meeting for me and 2 other teens that are struggling with their health. It was such an encouragement to her to know that so many people care. God IS taking care of her and holding her through all of this. For the past week and a half, Victoria has been unable to get out of bed. She still struggles to walk and find her strength. They are hopeful to be going to Nevada as soon as they can. They know they need to get out of Oklahoma for treatment because they have had doctors yelling at them telling them Lyme isn't real.

Victoria is holding out to find better treatment that will help with the pain of long-term Lyme Disease. She's trying to keep the pain under control and keeping up her strength to understand what God's plan is for her through all of this. She wants people to know that even though many doctors in Oklahoma refuse to believe that Lyme exists there ~ it does and she has it ~ and so do many other people. She has hope.

She asks for prayer for her family right now. Victoria and her mother are leaving today for 3-4 weeks of treatments in Nevada. Her dad and little brother will be staying at home.

Victoria started a blog the other day. Go support her and if you have suggestions, please leave a comment for her!

blog- http://victoriawilguess.blogspot.com

Review Day

2009-06-14T03:00:00.002-04:00

Review Day

Kayla 6/1

Lisa D. 6/3

Diana H 6/5

Julia 6/8

Nora 6/10

Victoria Wilcox 6/12

March & April Music of 2009

God With Us by Mercy Me
Hold Fast by Mercy Me
Prayer for a Friend by Casting Crowns
Holy is the Lord by Chris Tomlin
It is Well With my Soul Hymn
Bring the Rain by Mercy Me
Hero by Mariah Carey
Fix You by Coldplay

May Music of 2009
Return to Innocence by Enigma
In Better Hands by Natalie Grant
In Christ Alone by Newboys
Our Hope Endures by Natalie Grant
This is the Air I Breathe by Hillsong
East to West by Casting Crowns AND
Who Am I? by Casting Crowns
Lift Me Up by Kate Voegele
You Invite Me In sung by Meredith Andrews
Arise by Chris Sligh
He Reigns by Newsboys
Walk by Faith by Jeremy Camp
Bridge Over Troubled Water by Michael W. Smith

June Music of 2009
I Will Rise by Chris Tomlin
We Fall Down by Chris Tomlin
Amazing by Janelle
Heart of Worship
Healing Hand by Jeremy Camp
How Great is Our God by Chris Tomlin

Music for Victoria Wilcox

2009-06-13T09:12:00.001-04:00

How Great Is Our God by Chris Tomlin
VERSE(1):
The splendor of a King,
Clothed in majesty
Let all the earth rejoice,
All the earth rejoice
He wraps himself in light,
And darkness tries to hide
And trembles at his voice,
And trembles at his voice

CHORUS(1):
How great is our God,
sing with me
How great is our God,
and all will see
How great, How great
Is our God

VERSE(2):
Age to age he stands
And time is in His Hands
Beginning and the End,
Beginning and the End
The Godhead, Three in one
Father, Spirit, Son
The Lion and the Lamb,
The Lion and the Lamb

CHORUS(1):
How great is our God,
sing with me
How great is our God,
and all will see
How great, How great
Is our God

CHORUS(2)
Name above all names
You are Worthy of all praise
and My heart will sing how great
Is our God
(x2)

CHORUS(1):
How great is our God,
Sing with me
How great is our God,
and all will see
How great, How great
Is our God

CHORUS(1):
How great is our God,
Sing with me
How great is our God,
and all will see
How great, How great
Is our God

Prayer for Victoria Wilcox

2009-06-12T17:27:00.003-04:00

Dear Lord, I pray for healing for Victoria. I also pray that she will have the strength and ability to continue her contributions to the Lyme Community.

Thank you, Lord, for hearing my prayer.

Molly

Victoria Wilcox's biography

2009-06-12T03:00:00.002-04:00

Our next featured Lymie is 18 year old Victoria Wilcox. Victoria who is from New York also has Babesia. Victoria's symptoms include: seizure disorder, fatigue, muscle weakness, chronic pain, nerve problems, sleep problems, brain fog, dizzy spells. Unfortunately the list of symptoms goes on.

Victoria is a huge advocate for Lyme patients. She has two websites. One is her personal blog and the other is for her Lyme Walk. She asks for your prayers for her walk into missions. Currently things are going really well for Victoria health wise and she wants to continue advocating for Lyme Disease in street ministry.

Website www.lymewalk.org and http://vicupdates.blogspot.com

Normally, I write a whole lot on each Lymie. In Victoria's case, I am going to let "her" tell the story. This is a video that she made in January of 2008 with the help of some of her friends.

Prayers for Nora and family

2009-06-11T11:00:00.002-04:00

Oh dear Lord, I pray for Nora's girls to respond well to their medications and that they are able to rid their systems of these diseases. I pray for comfort for them on their journey.

Thank you, Lord, for hearing my prayers.

Molly Caporale

Music for Nora

2009-06-11T03:00:00.000-04:00

Healing Hand of God by Jeremy Camp

I have seen the many faces,
I fear in the pain.
I have watched the tears fall plenty,
From heart ache and strength.
So if life's journey,
Has you weary and afraid.
There's rest in the shadow of his wings.
I have walked through the valleys,
The mountains and plains.
I have held the hand of freedom,
It washes all my stains.
If you feel the weight of many trials,
And burdens from this world.
There's freedom in the shelter of the Lord.

Chorus:
I have seen,
The healing hand of God,
Reaching out and mending broken hearts.
Taste and see the fullness of His peace,
And hold on to what's being held out.
The healing hand of God.

I have touched the scars upon His hands,
To see if they were real.
He has walked the road before me,
He knows just how I feel.
When you feel there is not anyone,
Who understands your pain,
Just remember all of Jesus' suffering.

(Chorus)

Cast all your cares on Him,
For He cares for you.
He's near to the broken and confused.
By His stripes,
Our spirit is renewed.
So enter in the joy prepared for you.

(Chorus)

The healing hand of God (x2)
And hold on to what's being held out (x2)
The healing hand of God
Oh Oh Oh Oh

prayers for Nora and girls

2009-06-10T22:17:00.001-04:00

Dear Lord

We bring before you Nora and her sweet daughters, Rebekah and Hannah. Here they are Lord, before you, and in need of your loving touch. As your children, they love you and desire your plan for their lives. They are faithful, and we give thanks for the witness to others they are within their pain and suffering. And we ask Lord Jesus for strength, courage, and healing. You tell us to ask and we shall receive, and we claim that promise today for Nora, Hannah, and Rebekah.

To You be the glory.

In Your Holy name

Amen

Nora's Biography

2009-06-10T03:00:00.001-04:00

Nora found us through Brent Rigg's blog. A blog that I read every day. So it was my pleasure when she requested to be a featured Lymie to do so ... Nora, I hope you will continue to be apart of our blog and pray for all of our featured Lymies.

Nora is a 47 year old mother from Connecticut. Nora has two adopted daughters from China. The 5 and 8 year old have Lyme Disease, Babesia, Bartonella and Ehrlichiosis. Nora was also diagnosed with Lyme a couple of years ago.

There are multiple symptoms that could listed for days, but some of them include:

Extreme fatigue, headaches, irritability, irrationality, rages, memory loss, auditory sensitivity, light sensitivity, cognitive processing problems, tracking problems, tunnel vision, swallowing problems, leg pain, soles of feet painful, foods tasting different, no weight gain, fears and severe anxiety.

Nora's 8 year old story: (Hannah)

Three years ago, Nora and her family moved to a new home. They believe they got the disease in their own wooded back yard. At the end of July, Nora's 8 year old will be going off all medications. She's wanting specific prayers that her symptoms do not return. The 8 year old did 6 months of Oral Medications and were followed by 5 1/2 months of IV Rocephin and another medication. At this time, she got a bacterial blood infection, Serratia.

It was necessary to remove the hickman shunt in November of 2008. She took a short break off all medications and then went on oral Mepron and Rifampin. She just switched medications again at the end of May and will finish July 31st. Since the 8 year old was so ill the year she was in public school, Nora home schooled her this year repeating her 1st grade year. Nora knew there was no way with her poor state of health in September of 2008 that the little girl could excel in school. There has been great improvement over the last 9 months.

Currently, they are using vision therapy in hopes that it will restore her field of vision. Nora feels her daughter is still having some cognitive issues that may take a while to heal. Her anxiety is improved, but not completely gone and it remains to be seen how she will do with normal school pressures when she returns to public school in the Fall of 2009. They also need to work on improving her immune system.

Nora's family would appreciate prayers for both girls to respond well to the medications and that they would be able to rid their systems of these diseases. They are thankful that their daughter (Hannah) is doing better after 18 months of treatment and are praying that her symptoms do not return in August when she's off of medications. They also are wanting her eye sight to return to normal.

Nora's 5 year old story (Rebekah)

Nora's younger daughter did two short courses of medications. They thought she was better, but by October of 2008 she was diagnosed by the Lyme doctor and took Azithromycin and Mepron long term. Lately, her medications just don't seem as effective as they had been. And because of a virus, she had to take a reprieve from her medications and all of her symptoms returned very quickly. It was frightening.

Her symptoms are: headaches, knee pain, forgetfulness, screaming, fatigue all the time, irritability, constipation, painful urination-- She is seeing both a urologist and gastrointerologist for these problems. There was a concern that she had kidney stones, possibly she did, but now has been diagnosed with dysfunctional elimination syndrome. She's on laxatives and fiber and the results are slow so they have recently ordered a natural thing called Fruit-eze. Her daughter has always had sleep problems and they were told she has mild sleep apnea after a sleep study was performed.

Pray for Rebekah as well because she is having multiple problems. Things are difficult on her on so many levels and they need to reconsider her medications since she is just not doing well. They need her constipation and stomach aches under control as well. The past two years have been exhausting and stressful on each one of the members of Nora's family. Nora understands that God has them on this journey for a reason even though she doesn't like it. It's been hard for Nora to watch her girls be so sick and can't wait for the day they are free of these diseases.

Nora says, "Thank so much for your prayers."

Music for Julia

2009-06-09T03:00:00.000-04:00

When the music fades
And all is stripped away
And I simply come
Longing just to bring
Something that's of worth
That will bless your heart

I'll bring You more than a song
For a song in itself
Is not what You have required
You search much deeper within
Through the ways things appear
You're looking into my heart

I'm coming back to the heart of worship
And it's all about You
All about You, Jesus
I'm sorry Lord for the thing I've made it
When it's all about You
It's all about You Jesus

King of endless worth
No one could express
How much You deserve
Though I'm weak and poor
All I have is Yours
Every single breath

I'll bring You more than just a song
For a song in itself
Is not what You have required
You search much deeper within
Through the way things appear
You're looking into my heart

I'm coming back to the heart of worship
And it's all about You
All about You, Jesus
I'm sorry Lord for the thing I've made it
When it's all about You
It's all about You Jesus

Its all about you
Jesus

Julia's Biography

2009-06-08T03:00:00.001-04:00

Julia is another North Carolinian Lymie. At 22 years old, people ask her all the time what it is like to live with Lyme Disease. She usually says, "Oh it's nothing really, just some joint pain and short term memory loss." The reality of it all is that it's hard to have a life with Lyme Disease.
Julia usually doesn't ever truly answer the infamous question of, "What are your symptoms?" Its' too hard to explain to someone that doesn't have it.

Some of Julia's symptoms are:

-Rashes all over body depending on time of year and current therapy
-anxiety
-facial muscle paralysis
-Arthritis in both hips, and hands/fingers
-tendinitis in arches of feet, and ankles
-EXTREME fatigue
-severe depression, thoughts of suicide
-mood swings
-brain swelling, mostly in frontal lobes causing short term memory loss, and impaired speech
-dizziness, fainting spells
-blurred vision aka 'floaters'
-Nausea
-Paranoid moods

There is a big portion of Julia's Lyme Disease symptoms. She doesn't always show those symptoms every day. Some days are good and some days are bad. Her biggest problem is her cognitive brain issues caused by Lyme Disease. She has many other symptoms that she didn't list because her list is so extensive the post would be extraordinarily long.

Since Julia was about 13 years old, she was extremely depressed. The mixture of Anti-depressants would spin her into a manic state when she was 16. At that time, she was diagnosed with Bipolar and ADD. She switched medications every 4 to 6 months because they would work for a while, but then they would stop. Julia was often threatened with "Holly Hill" (our local um .. crazy hospital) because of her cutting problem and how much she hated her life.

Finally during Julia's senior year of High School, her mother's friend suggested that Julia had Lyme Disease. This friend's husband and children had all been diagnosed with Lyme Disease and the friend swore that Julia had Lyme Disease. So after all the years of difficulties, they took a trip down to see the infamous Dr. J for blood tests. This was in August of 2004 and the blood test showed that Julia had Lyme Disease.

Julia says, "At this point, I was in utter shock, but at the same time, I was extremely glad to know what was really wrong with me instead of having doctors guess, and guess, and guess. I was still cutting, having stomach issues, and having to leave school early because I felt so awful."

A few weeks later, she found out that she would be getting a PICC line placed. She had to drop out of high school her senior year and Julia was on IV therapy for over 9 months. Her PICC was pulled out in May of 2005 and Julia felt wonderful. She was on no anti-depressants or anything related to a mood disorder. Julia was genuinely happy for the first time in probably her whole life. She would get sick and throw up after lunch for about 3 months, but that too passed.
She spent the summer, happy, and started back at a different high school and ended up graduating in 2006.

At the end of 2005, Julia began to feel that she was slipping back into Lyme since she wasn't taking oral antibiotics during that time. She went to Meredith College for 2 years and during those two years she still wasn't taking her oral antibiotics. She didn't know that not taking the antibiotics would wind up slapping her across the face. The summer of 2008, after withdrawing from 3 semesters at Meredith, her parents were fed up. Her mother took me to a specialist in New York City, who dealt with mood disorders and Lyme disease. He would be able to tell if Julia was really bipolar or if it was really Lyme Disease. She remembers talking to Dr. R, but it was kind of all a blur.

Three weeks later, her mother, grandmother and she flew back to New York to get some testing done. She was tested for two days and was told that she showed no signs of a mood disorder, an average IQ, good at reading, but bad at memorizing. She also got a SPECT scan done to see how much oxygen is reaching certain areas of the brain. Dr. R. called two weeks later saying that Julia had brain swelling especially in the frontal lobes. He suggested that she return to Dr. J and that she needed another PICC Line.

She did not want to get another PICC, but on September 12, 2008 she got her 2nd PICC line put in. She named it Trixie and she was only supposed to have Trixie for 4 months. After 6 months of IV therapy, Trixie was removed. Julia felt better, but it wasn't as big a difference as she had hoped.

There's Julia's story, her Lyme story. She's forgotten some parts. Julia used to think, "I can't do that because I have Lyme Disease." Now she's changing her point of view to "What can I do with Lyme Disease?" She's taking her oral antibiotics as best as she can. She still feels symptoms, but tries to ignore them and move on. Pretty much every friend Julia has knows that she has Lyme Disease, but none of them truly understand what it's like to live with Lyme. She doesn't expect th em to either. She usually hides her feelings and emotions to stop them from worrying too much. She says she can fake happiness like it's her job.

But the one thing Julia knows for sure is that even though she has bad days and good days, Julia's friends and family stick by her. She is thankful every single day for her family and friends. Without them, she probably wouldn't be here. So, even though she hides emotions and symptoms, Julia knows that she can talk to her friends and family when ever she really need to.

Please pray for my friend Julia and her mother. Her mother also has been diagnosed with Lyme Disease.

Review Day

2009-06-07T03:00:00.002-04:00

Because I won't be at my computer on Friday to retrieve the URL for one of my featured Lymies, I will add all the reviews for this week to next weeks review. So next week instead of having 2 to 3 lymies to review, I will have 5 to 6 Lymies.

~ Jennifer

Here's some music to tide you over!

March & April Music of 2009

God With Us by Mercy Me
Hold Fast by Mercy Me
Prayer for a Friend by Casting Crowns
Holy is the Lord by Chris Tomlin
It is Well With my Soul Hymn
Bring the Rain by Mercy Me
Hero by Mariah Carey
Fix You by Coldplay

May Music of 2009
Return to Innocence by Enigma
In Better Hands by Natalie Grant
In Christ Alone by Newboys
Our Hope Endures by Natalie Grant
This is the Air I Breathe by Hillsong
East to West by Casting Crowns AND
Who Am I? by Casting Crowns
Lift Me Up by Kate Voegele
You Invite Me In sung by Meredith Andrews
Arise by Chris Sligh
He Reigns by Newsboys
Walk by Faith by Jeremy Camp
Bridge Over Troubled Water by Michael W. Smith

Congratulations Sarah

2009-06-06T10:00:00.001-04:00

Congratulations to my dear Lyme friend Sarah.

I am SO proud of you for graduating today!

On 5/28/09, I let my dear Lyme Friend Sarah know that I would be surprising her. I am currently in South Carolina watching my dear friend graduate high school! This is scheduled to post at the time the ceremony is to start!

Music for Diana & Heather

2009-06-06T03:00:00.000-04:00

So this might be an "odd" song choice, but I have known Diana a long time. Almost since the beginning of my lyme journey a little over 2 years. I know that Diana feels this way about her daughter Heather. ~ That she is SO amazing. And that she is. I dont' know if you all are aware, but Heather received a wish from the Make A Wish Foundation. And in her wish, she wanted to support Lyme Disease. She was so Amazing! So that's the reason I chose this song.

See what PHA said about Heather's Make A Wish

See more about Heather here

Amazing by Janelle

The morning cold and raining,
dark before the dawn did come
How long in twilight waiting
longing for the rising sun
ohoh ohoh

You came like crashing thunder
breaking through these walls of stone
You came with wide eyed wonder
into all this great unknown
ohoh ohoh

Hush now don't you be afraid
I promise you I'll always stay
I'll never be that far away
I'm right here with you

You're so amazing you shine like the stars
You're so amazing the beauty you are
You came blazing right into my heart
You're so amazing you are...
You are

You came from heaven shining
Breath of God still flows from you
The beating heart inside me
Crumbled at this once I knew
ohoh ohoh

No matter where or how far you wander
For a thousand years or longer
I will always be there for you
Right here with you

You're so amazing you shine like the stars
You're so amazing the beauty you are
You came blazing right into my heart
You're so amazing you are...

I hope your tears are few and fast
I hope your dreams come true and last
I hope you find love that goes on and on and on
I hope you wish on every star
I hope you never fall too far
I hope this world can see how wonderful you are

You're so amazing you shine like the stars
You're so amazing the beauty you are
You came blazing right into my heart
You're so amazing...

You're so amazing you shine like the stars
You're so amazing the beauty you are
You came blazing right into my heart
You're so amazing you are...
You are

Prayers for Diana & Family

2009-06-05T11:40:00.002-04:00

Dear Lord - I pray for healing for Diana and her daughter and husband. I also pray that Diana and her family's faith continue to grow and for the grace and wisdom for them to continue to make good decisions about their health.

Thank you, Lord, for hearing my prayers.

Molly

Diana's biography

2009-06-05T03:00:00.001-04:00

My dear friend Diana is a woman of God that doesn't focus on herself a whole lot. Diana (whom a lot of us call Sojourner) is a young 51 year old from Pennsylvania. Diana says that, " I used to be such a 70s girl; now I'm just a girl after God's own heart - a humbling mission."

First thing you must know about, other than her growing faith in God, is that she and her husband Barry have a beautiful daughter, Heather, who was diagnosed with late stage Lyme Disease over three years ago. Because of her history since birth, Heather's Lyme Team believes that her mom, is most likely the carrier of Heather's LD Complex.

Due to rising medical costs, Diana nor her husband Barry have been able to dive into the testing/treatment arena. Diana has a history of MS and Hashimotos Thyroiditis and evidence of Bartonella. If you marry that with Heather's suffering from birth, her roller coaster childhood physiologically, then escalating to over 15 very frustrating years of searching for the "root" answer, it seems plausible that Heather is a gestational baby.

She has suffered from 3 of the co-infections. Additionally, there have been ticks removed over the years. Pennsylvania is slowly growing in the education of Lyme disease; but as their trusted pediatrician apologetically shared with them after Heather's diagnosis from Washington DC, no one considered Lyme in PA until recently.

Diana's most prevalent symptom is the heartache of seeing her daughter face the magnitude of a late diagnosis and the ignorance of those whose motives have prevented research and development from moving forward. Heather nearly died of this disease. The pain, her brain, the long suffering and life threatening complications have had seasons of relentlessness, evoking fear and trembling. From paralysis to pseudotumor cerebri (brain swelling), severe papilledema, migraines, muscle/joint pain, hypo to hyperthyroid and blindness in the first two years after diagnosis to insomnia, adrenal exhaustion, co-infections, neurological, autonomic symptoms,multi-system complications, Lyme flares, toxicity from die-off and countless complexities, Diana and Barry know to be grateful for their blessings and for how far their medical team has helped their comeback kid outwit the bacteria, wake up her immune system and continue to fight her battle for the win.

Heather, now antibiotic and drug resistant, has an awesome integrative/complimentary team. She has a number of weekly physical therapies that no typical teen should endure; but, it keeps her on her feet and is a major factor in her body's ability to heal and strengthen her immune core response. From natural approach to nutrition and nourishment to Heather's spirit and body, the family covets your prayers for ongoing wisdom and guidance as they continue to trust in their faith and seek the Lord at every turn, sight unseen.

Only the Lord knows for sure; but based on clinical history and years of mountain climbing, countless ticks pulled in their (now known to be endemic) state; its highly probable that Barry and Diana carry the pathogens.

Barry and Diana thank you for praying:

... with thanksgiving, b/c we know that in the midst of such reality the Lord is faithful and gracious; that He honors His word to be 'for' us. For that we are very grateful.

...for His ongoing spiritual nourishment to Heather; in body and soul. We are grateful for the strength of her faith and trust in the Lord; it has helped us as her parents to walk the distance, as well. We are grateful she has come such a long way.

...for Dr. L, Dr. N, Dr. J, POM D., CMT R and Dr. I as they continue to care for Heth and lead us through this next season of her treatment.

...for 1 or 2 very special friendships in Heather's life (it would be a 2-way encouragement and blessing).

...with thanks for the new local off-Campus ministry that Heth can worship with Sunday evenings during school (she is unable to do mornings).

...for precious ones who did not judge, but understood, served and prayed for the reality that the Lord called our family to serve within, for His glory.

...that our joy would be deep and reflected in the way we minister as educators, mediators and patient to physician liaisons.

... for the Lord's blessing to Heather's obedience and to her future (we know what He promises whether she is here - or there with Him).

...that the Lord would allow us to continue to have a voice that brings lasting change in how others understand this disease both in the church and in the world; and for His gracious blessing to different efforts initiated on behalf of.

...for healing from the ignorance that this disease has imposed from those who do not understand and to our bodies, minds, spirits and our tested marriage (when your child faces death, you die to self again and again- we are battle worn).

Blessings in His love, Diana

Music for Lisa D.

2009-06-04T03:00:00.001-04:00

We Fall Down by Chris Tomlin

We fall down
We lay our crowns
At the feet of Jesus
The greatness of
Your Mercy and love
At the feet of Jesus
And we cry holy, holy, holy
And we cry holy, holy, holy
And we cry holy, holy, holy
Is the lamb
We fall down
We lay our crowns
At the feet of Jesus
The greatness of
Mercy and love
At the feet of Jesus
And we cry holy, holy, holy
And we cry holy, holy, holy
And we cry holy, holy, holy
Is the lamb
And we cry holy, holy, holy
And we cry holy, holy, holy
And we cry holy, holy, holy
Is the lamb

Prayers for Lisa D.

2009-06-03T21:43:00.002-04:00

Dear Lord, I pray for healing for Lisa D. I pray that she has the strength to stay active and to heal.

Thank you, Lord, for hearing my prayer.

Molly

Prayers for Kayla

2009-06-03T21:42:00.002-04:00

Dear Lord, I pray for healing for Kayla, this beautiful young person who wants to feel better and get out of bed. I pray for strength both physical and mental to get her through this ordeal.

Thank you, Lord, for hearing my prayer.

Molly

Lisa D's Biography

2009-06-03T03:00:00.001-04:00

Lisa D is a 45 year old Lyme patient from Creighton Missouri. Lisa has severe illnesses that would be concerning by themselves, but together they are creating a war inside her body. The two tick borne illnesses that Lisa has are Lyme Disease and Babesia. Babesia is the most problematic currently. Lisa also has been diagnosed with Lupus and Diabetes. She also has a condition called Hereditary Angio Edema. This is a rare swelling disorder that can affect the face, throat, feet, hands and stomach. It can be fatal if it is in the throat as the airway can be compromised.

Lisa also has two artificial joints (knee and elbow). This year her symptoms have changed so she has a potpourri of things that bother her. Lisa used to break and train horses for a living with her late husband. She lives on a farm and handles livestock daily. Lisa loves being outside and refuses to give that up because of Lyme and the other conditions that she has.

Lisa has always been an active person and wants to stay that way, but when she has rest she does. She thanks everyone who are praying!

Music for Kayla

2009-06-02T17:17:00.003-04:00

I will Rise by Chris Tomlin

There's a peace I've come to know
though my heart and flesh may fail
There's an echo in my soul
I can sing, It is well

Jesus has overcome
and the grave is overwhelmed
The victory is won
He is risen from the dead

And I Will Rise when he calls my name
No more sorrow, No more pain
I Will Rise on Eagles' wings
Before my God fall on my knees and rise
I Will Rise

There's a day that's drawing near
when the darkness breaks to light
and the shadows disappear
and my faith shall be my eye's

Jesus has overcome
and the grave is overwhelmed
The victory is won
He is risen from the dead

And I Will Rise when he calls my name
No more sorrow, No more pain
I Will Rise on Eagle's wings
Before my God fall on my knees and rise
I Will Rise

And I hear the voice of many angels sing,
"Worthy is the Lamb."
And I hear the cry of every longing heart,
"Worthy is the Lamb."

And I hear the voice of many angels sing,
"Worthy is the Lamb."
And I hear the cry of every longing heart,
"Worthy is the Lamb."

And I will rise when He calls my name
No more sorrow, no more pain
I will rise on Eagles' wings
Before my God fall on my knees
and rise
I will rise
I will rise

Kayla's biography

2009-06-01T03:00:00.003-04:00

Our featured Lymie today is 19 year old Kayla P. from Illinois. Kayla suffers from Lyme Disease and most likely a thyroid problem. Kayla's doctor isn't sure what else is going on with her body, but knows that it is more than Lyme and/or co-infections.

Kayla's symptoms range from day to day, even minute to minute. She goes through phases that consist of mild to severe symptoms. The symptoms that seem to stick with Kaylra are brain fog, trouble concentrating. and memory loss. She also has horrible insomnia, paralysis, leg weakness, fibro-like pain, achy joints, achy muscles, fatique, no energy for anything, nerve pain and more. In the past 5 1/2 years, Kayla has had seizures, both spacial and petty mal, and amnesiatic episodes.

Kayla has pretty much done it all from the hyperberic oxygen chamber, infared sauna, acupuncture, massage therapy, reflexology, not to mention the dozens upon dozens of vitamins, supplements, minerals, and tinctures she has endured and the numerous diet plans presented to her over the years.

Kayla chooses natural treatments, but has tried antibiotics a few times which always seem to fail. They aren't really sure what to do anymore, but are looking into hydrogen peroxide IVs and an alkeline diet. If that doesn't work, they are going to have to resort to the picc and triple antibiotics.

Kayla believes that her sister may have Lyme Disease, but testing doesn't prove anything. They are taking it easy with her and giving her some of the same natural supplements that Kayla takes just in case she does have it.

Kayla's biggest prayer request is to get out of bed. She has been stuck there since the beginning of November.

Sunday Morning Ministry

2009-05-31T09:03:00.004-04:00

2 Corinthians 4:8-10 We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed— always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. (NKJV)

Please go to his wonderful blog and read the message that he has prepared for everyone.

I know that a LOT of our Lyme friends have had extremely difficult weeks. Mr. Brent Riggs works extremely hard to put together a Sunday Morning Ministry for friends that are unable to go to church. This week's message seems to be targeted for US. Just read the scripture he used

2 Corinthians 4:8-10 We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed— always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. (NKJV)''

Review Day

2009-05-30T11:21:00.006-04:00

Julie 5/27

Molly 5/29

Others in May:

Melisa L 5/2

Shandy 5/4 ~ emergency prayer on 5/29

Johnny 5/6

Melissa H 5/8

Krissy 5/11

Jennifer 5/13 ~ special post written by Kayla on her blog

Sarah 5/15

Lauren W 5/18

Nancy 5/20

Polly N. 5/22

March & April Music of 2009

God With Us by Mercy Me
Hold Fast by Mercy Me
Prayer for a Friend by Casting Crowns
Holy is the Lord by Chris Tomlin
It is Well With my Soul Hymn
Bring the Rain by Mercy Me
Hero by Mariah Carey
Fix You by Coldplay

May Music of 2009
Return to Innocence by Enigma
In Better Hands by Natalie Grant
In Christ Alone by Newboys
Our Hope Endures by Natalie Grant
This is the Air I Breathe by Hillsong
East to West by Casting Crowns AND
Who Am I? by Casting Crowns
Lift Me Up by Kate Voegele
You Invite Me In sung by Meredith Andrews
Arise by Chris Sligh
He Reigns by Newsboys
Walk by Faith by Jeremy Camp
Bridge Over Troubled Water by Michael W. Smith

music for molly

2009-05-30T03:00:00.001-04:00

Bridge Over Troubled Water ~ Michael W. Smith

When you're weary, feeling small,
When tears are in your eyes, I will dry them all;
I'm on your side. when times get rough
And friends just cant be found,
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will lay me down.
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will lay me down.

When you're down and out,
When you're on the street,
When evening falls so hard
I will comfort you.
I'll take your part.
When darkness comes
And pains is all around,
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will lay me down.
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will lay me down.

Sail on silver girl,
Sail on by.
Your time has come to shine.
All your dreams are on their way.
See how they shine.
If you need a friend
I'm sailing right behind.
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will ease your mind.
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will ease your mind.

Emergent Prayer for Shandy

2009-05-29T19:56:00.003-04:00

I'm not sure what is going on with our dear friend Shandy, but please pray for her right now.

I saw a very disheartening message and I know she could use the extra prayers for strength and hope. So please lift her up.

Go read her bio and pray

Shandy here is some music for ya dear:

Molly's biography

2009-05-29T03:00:00.001-04:00

Molly has always been somewhat "sickly" in that she got every flu and was just sick more frequently than most people. She had a feeling that this was not "normal". As the years passed, Molly got sicker more frequently and in her 40's she knew something was definitely wrong.
She was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia and was told to "research the internet" and "learn to live with it".

Molly accepted this for a short time but then went to The Fibromyalgia and Fatigue Center in Troy, MI. After her doctor told her she did not have Lyme Disease, she read the test results herself in March of 2006 and found out she did indeed have Lyme Disease. Molly had her first appointment with her current Lyme Doctor in June of 2006. Molly's twin sister, who also have Lyme Disease, also sees him and they truly enjoy their doctor visits. Molly is blessed to have him in her life.

Molly, who will be 50 in June, is from South East Michigan. Molly has been diagnosed with Lyme Disease, Bartonella and possible Erlichiosis. Her major symptoms include include headache, IBS, Vulvodynia and Flu like symptoms. Molly also has pain in her joints, bones and muscles.

Just like Dr. B and Pam Weintraub, Molly is currently pulsing Ceftin. She has been in treatment for the last 3 years. She has been on Doxycycline, Biaxin/Amoxicillian, Cowden Protocol, Rifanmpin and the Rife Machine. Molly thinks she has been infected most of her life, but was correctly diagnosed in early 2006.

Molly's very worst symptom is vulvodynia. She doesn't like to talk about it alot because it makes some people uncomfortable, but she has very intense pain that she lives with every day.
It prevents Molly from wearing normal clothes and from doing many activities (like sitting down in certain chairs, biker riding etc).

Molly is slowly getting better and feels that within the next year or two she will achieve remission. Molly wants prayers that her pain will be resolved.

Music for Julie

2009-05-28T03:00:00.000-04:00

Jeremy Camp ~ Walk By Faith

Will I believe you when you say
Your hand will guide my every way
Will I receive the words You say
Every moment of every day

Well I will walk by faith
Even when I cannot see
because this broken road
Prepares Your will for me

Help me to RID my endless fears
You've been so faithful for all my years
With the one breath You make me new
Your grace covers all I do

yeah, yeah , yeah, yeah, ya

well i will walk by faith
even when i cannot see
because this broken road
prepares your will for me

Well I'm broken- but I still see Your face
Well You've spoken- pouring Your words of grace

Well I will walk by faith
Even when I cannot see
Well because this broken road
Prepares Your will for me
(Repeat)
Well I will walk by faith
Even when I cannot see
Well because this broken road
Prepares Your will for me

Hallelujah, hallelu

I will walk by faith, I will walk by faith,
I will walk by faith
I will walk by faith, I will walk by faith,
I will walk by faith
I will walk by faith, I will walk by faith,
I will walk by faith
I will walk by faith
I will walk,I will walk Faith
I will walk, I will walk by faith

Julie's biography

2009-05-27T03:00:00.001-04:00

Julie is a 36 year old mother from New York. She has Lyme Disease, Ehrlichiosis, Bartonella and Babesia. She is currently on Doxycycline and Biaxin. Her supplements are fish oil, vitamin C, pycnogenol, Cat's Claw and a multivitamin.

While Julie's symptoms are too numerous to name, she has mostly neck pain, weakness and general malaise. She also has arthritic like symptoms in her hands, headaches, heart palpitations, dental pain, chronic sinus and yeast infections. Julie also has severe neurological symptoms including brain fog, attention and focusing problems, panic attacks, anxiety, severe irritability, forgetfulness, extreme sensitivity to light and sounds. She also has had OCD as a teen and in her 20's. Julie has more symptoms and she could go on forever listing them.

Julie's mom and sister have both been recently diagnosed with Lyme disease after many years of suffering with pain and illnesses. Three of her four children have tested positive for Lyme Disease. Her fourth child has not been tested, but Julie's LLMD put all of her kids on supplements to build their immune systems including: Cat's Claw, Fish Oil, Tranfer Factor, probiotics and Vitamin C.

All four of Julie's children have chronic sinus and ear infections, some neurological issues. One has panic attacks, two have some level of behavioral issues, night terrors, history of "mono" or supposed mono even though they test negative for it.

Julie's prayer request is that they are all on proper treatment and medication and that her children won't experience any symptoms with the new medications. She wants complete healing for all of them. In addition, I have just found out that Julie found another tick on her daughter (On 5/20th). So please pray that there are no further complications from this tick bite.

Prayers for Polly

2009-05-26T18:43:00.002-04:00

Dear Lord, I ask that you comfort Polly and bring her strength and healing. I also pray for her son who has Lyme and for all her other children, as well. I pray she has the strength to care for her children this summer and always.

Thank you, Lord, for hearing my prayers.

Molly Caporale

Review Day

2009-05-24T03:00:00.005-04:00

*** Also Due to Monday being a Holiday, I will reframe from putting a new bio up on Monday and just have two bios next week. One on Wednesday and One on Friday! Have a great Memorial Day everyone. Remember those that have fought and that are fighting for our country!

Lauren W 5/18

Nancy 5/20

Polly N. 5/22

Others in May:

Melisa L 5/2

Shandy 5/4

Johnny 5/6

Melissa H 5/8

Krissy 5/11

Jennifer 5/13 ~ special post written by Kayla on her blog

Sarah 5/15

March & April Music of 2009

God With Us by Mercy Me
Hold Fast by Mercy Me
Prayer for a Friend by Casting Crowns
Holy is the Lord by Chris Tomlin
It is Well With my Soul Hymn
Bring the Rain by Mercy Me
Hero by Mariah Carey
Fix You by Coldplay

May Music of 2009
Return to Innocence by Enigma
In Better Hands by Natalie Grant
In Christ Alone by Newboys
Our Hope Endures by Natalie Grant
This is the Air I Breathe by Hillsong
East to West by Casting Crowns AND
Who Am I? by Casting Crowns
Lift Me Up by Kate Voegele
You Invite Me In sung by Meredith Andrews
Arise by Chris Sligh
He Reigns by Newsboys

Music for Polly N.

2009-05-23T03:00:00.000-04:00

He Reigns by Newsboys
It’s the song of the redeemed
Rising from the African plain
It’s the song of the forgiven
Drowning out the Amazon rain
The song of Asian believers
Filled with God’s holy fire
It’s every tribe, every tongue, every nation
A love song born of a grateful choir

It’s all God’s children singing
Glory, glory, hallelujah
He reigns, He reigns
It’s all God’s children singing
Glory, glory, hallelujah
He reigns, He reigns

Let it rise about the four winds
Caught up in the heavenly sound
Let praises echo from the towers of cathedrals
To the faithful gathered underground
Of all the songs sung from the dawn of creation
Some were meant to persist
Of all the bells rung from a thousand steeples
None rings truer than this

And all the powers of darkness
Tremble at what they’ve just heard
‘Cause all the powers of darkness
Can’t drown out a single word

When all God’s children sing out
Glory, glory, hallelujah
He reigns, He reigns
All God’s people singing
Glory, glory, hallelujah
He reigns, He reigns

Polly's Biography

2009-05-22T03:00:00.001-04:00

Polly, a 38 year old Lyme patient, is from Tennessee. Polly thinks she's had Lyme Disease for many years, but her body crashed about one year ago. She was finally diagnosed with Lyme in November of 2008.

Polly's symptoms are endless, but some of the things that bother her the most are fatigue, headaches, brain fog, and brain sensitivity. She also has pain in her stomach, chest, jaw/neck and joints. She has bad autonomic dysfunction that is slowly improving.

Polly would like prayers for increased stamina. Summer is creeping up on us and she will be blessed with 5 children at home.

Polly presently takes a lot of medications to stabilize her body and brain. She currently has a PICC line and is on IV and oral antibiotics. Her treatment protocol also includes lots of nutritional supplements. One of Polly's sons also has Lyme Disease. She has concerns about several of the others. Please pray for her to have wisdom regarding their testing and treatment.

Polly says, "Thank you!!!"

prayers for Nancy

2009-05-21T19:28:00.002-04:00

Lord we lift up to you Nancy and her request to be strong enough to have a job and do more with her husband. We give thanks for the healing that has taken place in her body already and that you have provided her with the right doctors and treatments. We give thanks for the plans you have for her today ~ and in her future.

In His name

Amen

Renee

Music for Nancy

2009-05-21T03:00:00.000-04:00

Arise sung by Chris Sligh

Stars go down in the western sky
The light fades in as the darkness dies
Sunlight, sweet sunlight
Brings the day that You’ve created

Perfect remedy
For all that tears at me

Arise, arise with the morning
Arise, your mercies are new
Arise, arise with the morning
That finds me running back to you

Darkness comes and covers all my faults
Tears fall down, sting my wounds like salt
Hopes fade, till I’m caught
In the day that you’ve created

I’m anxiously waiting
Redemption is brimming
With stories created
Each new day
I know you are coming

Prayer for Nancy

2009-05-20T08:36:00.002-04:00

Dear Lord hear our prayers for Nancy. If it is your will, please bring healing to Nancy. Please keep those nasty ticks away from her so she does not get reinfected. Help her make good decisions about her health and treatment plans. Please guide her physicians, as well.

Thank you, Lord, for hearing our prayers.

Molly Caporale

Nancy's Biography

2009-05-20T03:00:00.001-04:00

Nancy (a youngster at 45) is one of my North Carolina cohorts in the Lyme Disease world. We have scheduled a time to get together, but it was ruined by North Carolina weather! Silly thunderstorms that spawn Tornadoes.

Nancy began having flu like symptoms in April of 2005. About 3 weeks later, she had the tell tale sign ~ the Bullseye Rash. A doctor put her on Doxycycline for three weeks. After completing the three weeks of antibiotics, Nancy went back to the doctor feeling like she had been hit by a bus. Her doctor graciously gave her three more weeks of Doxycyline, but she was still not better. Nancy went to another doctor who put her on more Doxy. Finally in late 05/early 06, she found Dr. J (the infamous one from NC/SC).

After speaking with his staff and tons of blood work, they have decided she has no co-infections. Nancy has just been diagnosed with Lyme Disease. She decided to do just oral medications. She was on them for 14 months. In July of 2007, she had a second tick bite. Nancy did several more weeks of Doxy. Nancy will always have some Lyme issues, but in general she feels well.

Nancy currently has Joint Pain, exhaustion and hearing issues. Nancy has four components to her treatment plan. She uses medication, nutritional supplements, a healthy diet and exercise.

Nancy's current prayer needs are that she can be strong and for her husband to find employment.

prayers for Lauren

2009-05-19T17:10:00.002-04:00

We come to you today asking for prayers for Lauren and her children. They are all dealing with Lyme Disease and need your healing touch. We ask you to give them strength, perseverance, hope, and healing. You have a plan for their lives..for good and not evil…this day we claim that plan for them.

In Jesus name

Amen

Renee

Music for Lauren

2009-05-19T03:00:00.001-04:00

I’ve been searching
Wandering and hurting
Ashamed of the shape I’m in
Afraid you’ll see who I really am

But you invite me in
Doesn’t matter where I’ve been
Your arms are open wide
There’s nothing left to hide

How can this be
A love so unfailing
Reached down and lifted me
From ashes to beauty

And you invite me in
Doesn’t matter where I’ve been
Your arms are open wide
There’s nothing left to hide

You invite me in
Doesn’t matter who I’ve been
Your arms are open wide
Holding me to your side

Now I am walking away from the life I once knew
And running into your grace
It covers my shame again and again
I find my life in you

You invite us in
Doesn’t matter where we’ve been
Your arms are open wide
There’s nothing left to hide

You invite us in
Doesn’t matter who we’ve been
Your arms are open wide
Holding us to your side

Your arms are open wide

Prayers for Lauren and her Children

2009-05-18T12:54:00.002-04:00

Dear Lord, I pray for healing for Lauren and her children. I pray for good decisions from her doctors for relief from symptoms and healing for all of them.

Thank you, Lord, for hearing my prayers.

Molly Caporale

prayers for Lauren

2009-05-18T10:48:00.001-04:00

Dear Lord

We bring before you your child Lauren. She is in need of your healing touch upon her diseased body. We also bring before you her children and the battle they have with Lyme. Lord, we thank you for all Lauren does to make others aware of Lyme and give them support.

Wrap your loving arms around her, hold her, heal her as only you can.

In Jesus Name

Amen

Renee

Lauren W.'s Biography

2009-05-18T03:00:00.001-04:00

My friend Lauren is a 44 year old Lymie from Illionois. Lauren has Chronic Lyme Disease, Mycoplasma, Erlichosis and Babesia. Lauren's main symptoms are fatigue, joint pain and cognitive issues. She was diagnosed in 2006, but likely has had Lyme Disease since 1979.

Currently, Lauren is undertaking a slew of treatment that include the following:

Biaxin, Omnicef, armour thyroid, rx - vitamin D, Diflucan, cats claw, artemisinin, adrenal distress, NK Stim, magnesium, orthobiotic, CoQ10, selenium, zypan, calcium lactate, cat F, choracal II, Max GXL and Max N Fuse. Lauren also sees a chiropractor for acupuncture and a therapist for the use of a neuro muscular machine as well as foot and hand detoxes and Infrared Sauna. All four of Lauren's children are antibody positive and three have active Lyme. Those children are in treatment. Lauren's LLMD believes that she most likely gave it to them. They are 18, 17, 15 and 13.

Please pray for the healing of Lauren and her children and that God will continue to use their LLMD to heal them. Please pray for the metabolism of Lauren's children (they are dealing with issues). Please pray for Lauren's Lyme ministry. God is opening incredible doors and she needs prayers for focusing and follow up and to continue to always put HIM first.

Please pray for continued strength, encouragement and wisdom in helping others and special prayers that God will reach Dr.'s in Chicagoland to open their minds and hearts to become trained LLMD's.

Lauren wants to praise God for the many blessings he has brought into her life and the incredible friends she's met because of this disease!!

Please visit her website:
www.chicagolyme.com

Review Day

2009-05-17T03:00:00.002-04:00

Krissy 5/11 - Krissy, it's been a pleasure getting to know you better over the last few weeks and my prayers are that not only you get well soon, but that your son will also get well. Children are very resilient. Don't lose faith.

Jennifer 5/13 - I am so honored to be doing this blog for all of us. :o) I hope everyone enjoys it as much as I enjoy doing it.

Sarah 5/15 - Sarah, I am blessed to have known you as long as we've been friends. Don't forget to drink your "health" shakes. ;o) Love ya girl.

Others in May:

Melisa L 5/2

Shandy 5/4

Johnny 5/6

Melissa H 5/8

March & April Music of 2009

God With Us by Mercy Me
Hold Fast by Mercy Me
Prayer for a Friend by Casting Crowns
Holy is the Lord by Chris Tomlin
It is Well With my Soul Hymn
Bring the Rain by Mercy Me
Hero by Mariah Carey
Fix You by Coldplay

May Music of 2009
Return to Innocence by Enigma
In Better Hands by Natalie Grant
In Christ Alone by Newboys
Our Hope Endures by Natalie Grant
This is the Air I Breathe by Hillsong
East to West by Casting Crowns AND
Who Am I? by Casting Crowns
Lift Me Up by Kate Voegele

Prayers for Sarah

2009-05-16T10:43:00.003-04:00

Dear Lord, hear my prayers for Sarah.

Please bring restful sleep to Sarah so her body can heal and she can have relief. Please help Sarah continue to have a positive disposition and to have the strength to continue her treatment.

I pray for healing for Sarah, for relief of her symptoms.

Thank you God, for hearing my prayer.

Molly Caporale

Music for Sarah

2009-05-16T03:00:00.004-04:00

This road is anything but simple
Twisted like a riddle I've seen high and I've seen low
So loud, the voices of all my doubts
Telling me to give up, to pack up and leave town

Even so, I had to believe
Impossible means nothing to me, yeah

So can you lift me up,
Turn the ashes into flames
‘Cause I have overcome
More than words will ever say
And I've been given hope
That there's a light on up the hall
And that a day will come
When the fight is won
And I think that day has just begun

Somewhere, every body starts there
I'm counting on a small prayer,
Lost in a nightmare
But I'm here, and suddenly it's so clear
The struggle through the long years
It taught me to outrun my fears

Everything worth having, oh
Comes with trials worth withstanding

So can you lift me up,
Turn the ashes into flames
‘Cause I have overcome
More than words will ever say
And I've been given hope
That there's a light on up the hall
And that a day will come
When the fight is won
And I think that day has just begun

Oh, lift me up
Oh, lift me up
Oh, lift me up
Lift me up
Lift me up
Oh, Lift me up

Down and out is overrated
And I need to be elevated
Looking up is not enough
No, I would rather rise above

So can you lift me up,
Turn the ashes into flames
‘Cause I have overcome
More than words will ever say
And I've been given hope
That there's a light on up the hall
And that a day will come
When the fight is won
And I think that day has just begun

Oh, oh, oh, just begun
Lift me up, yeah, oh, oh, oh, yeah, now
Oh, oh, lift me up
Lift me up
Lift me up

Sarah's biography

2009-05-15T03:00:00.005-04:00

*** this is the 100th post on Praying for Lymies *** How cool is that?

My dear Lyme friend Sarah is 18 years old and lives in South Carolina. We've been friends almost since the beginning of my Lyme Diagnosis. Sarah also has Babesia and Bartonella. As if those things weren't bad enough on their own, Sarah also has: Hashimoto's Thyroid Disease, Tachybrady-Cardia, POTS syndrome, Gastroparesis, Poly-neuropathy, Degenerative Disk Disorder, nerve damage to vagus nerve, and now Chiari 1 Malformation has been added to the list.

Sarah has constant pain and because she is non responsive to pain medication she gets no relief from this symptom. Sarah has severe Chronic Fatigue and severe insomnia. She seriously only sleeps a few hours every 6 days or so. Sarah has seizures, tremors, severe muscle spasms, memory loss, brain fog, dyslexia, fevers, migraines, severe light sensitivity, sound & vibration sensitivity, and temporary paralysis in lower extremities. Sarah knows she has more symptoms, but she can't remember them right now. Those symptoms are the ones that bother her the most.

Sarah sees an LLMD in New York. She is currently on IV abx and has been for the last 11 months. She takes abx for the Lyme and Babesia. They are going to focus on the Bartonella once they get the Babesia somewhat under control.

Sarah has been sick with Lyme for ten years. She went misdiagnosed for 8 of those years. She was finally clinically diagnosed by the alternative medicine doctor there in SC. Sarah took oral abx for a year until her stomach shut down. Then she went nine months on nothing. Then finally convinced her family that she needed to see an LLMD.

Due to the seizures caused by the Lyme in her brain, she went to see a neurologist. He found that Sarah has a brain deformity called Chiari 1 Malformation. Sarah is currently in NY right now seeing the Chiari Institute. She had an appointments from the 11th to the 13th. She's also saw her LLMD yesterday.

So Sarah asks if not for healing that you pray that God will give her the strength to withstand the difficult times. And as far as her new diagnosis goes, Sarah doesn't even know what to pray for there. So she asks that you will pray for the doctors and give them wisdom to figure out how to help the situation.

And last but certainly not least, Sarah asks that you would pray for all of the other amazing people she has been fortunate enough to meet that suffer from Lyme as well. She prays that they will receive healing, relief, and understanding as to why they were put in this position in their lives.

Through all of the hatred and anger Sarah has towards Lyme, she does owe God for giving it to her. For if Sarah was not chosen to live with this disease she would not know many amazing people, she would not have as much compassion for those in pain, and she wouldn't be as strong as she am today.

And she says,
"So to all my fellow Lymies, Keep fighting, for you are all stronger than you know! You all inspire me in your own way, and I thank you for making me laugh when I wanted to cry, and complaining with me when I needed to vent. :)"