Sunday, July 29, 2012

Cape May Point, NJ


For nearly two years of my life, I've given everything I've had to treatment of my chronic Lyme disease. Everything. A few months ago when I was doing really well, I was okay with that, but now that I'm relapsing and I feel like I'm back where I started from, I've been really down in the dumps and mentally burnt-out.

I'm happy to report that I'm freshly relaxed (and tan--a rarity for my pasty old self) from a week at the beach. I went with several family members (over 30 people!) to Cape May Point in New Jersey. Because of my rapidly declining health, I did not decide up until the night before we were supposed to leave if I could make the trip or not.
Our Beach Path

The original plan was for me to go to the beach, take a week off of treatment and just relax and enjoy being on vacation. But I started going downhill really fast and thought I'd better get in touch with my doctor before leaving. She said something of the nature that if I was feeling bad enough to call her, then that was probably a sign that I needed to start my new treatment ASAP. Starting a new treatment meant there was no way I would have been able to travel and/or enjoy my vacation.

I love my doctor and I would not be here without her incredible wisdom and knowledge of Lyme disease and co-infections. She has lovingly guided me through these two incredibly difficult years of treatment and brought me back from the brink of death. I know there is nothing more frustrating for a doctor than a patient who doesn't heed their advice, but this was one time when I had to listen to my heart.

It was a gut wrenching decision for me to go against the advice of my doctor--something I've never done--and to go on this trip knowing that the odds were high that I could get much, much worse being off of treatment for a week. But I made the right decision. This vacation put the fight back in me.

Sunset over Sunset Beach
You can't actually take a sick day when you have a chronic illness, but this trip was as close as I could get to my own personal version of Ferris Beuller's Day Off. Yes, I was beyond exhausted; yes, I was in severe pain; yes, I got sun poisoning from one of my medications, but it was all worth it to "call in sick" from Lyme disease for a week! Now I'm ready to go back to school, er, treatment. And Dr. P., if you're reading this, I hope you won't put me in detention for not listening to you and I promise never, ever to do it again!




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4 comments:

  1. Great pictures...great time at the beach! So happy for you ALyson.

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  2. Hi Alyson,
    My name is Jane and I'm with Dwellable.
    I was looking for blogs about Cape May Point to share on our site and I came across your post...If you're open to it, shoot me an email at jane(at)dwellable(dot)com.
    Hope to hear from you soon!
    Jane

    ReplyDelete
  3. Nice Post, Thanks for your very useful information

    ReplyDelete