A Personal Heartfelt Progress Update from Foghladha

The past year has been quite character-building for me as I have had to pick up most of the responsibilities of my family. As my wife has battled Lyme Disease, her treatments have left her defenses weakened to the point we've had to limit her exposure to people and environments. I have taken over all tasks that require human interaction for the past year and a half. My poor wife has pretty much been a caged bird waiting to fly again. 

The Situation

Long story short, for years my wife has been displaying symptoms that seem to be growing in numbers and intensity. Her highly active life was pretty much brought to a halt in 2020. We began searching for answers and every doctor had different opinions but helped very little. That is until we stumbled onto one doctor who was actually a Lyme disease specialist who had been trained on the east coast after the necessity arose for her practice. She had my wife tested and found that she had 3 different variants of Lyme disease along with several coinfections. We started the fight immediately and as aggressively as we could.

The treatments have to be aggressive enough to kill these little bacteria yet not aggressive enough to kill the patient. The die-off is a lot worse than the normal symptoms but far better than the long-term diagnosis if left unchecked. 

During the first 3 months of treatments, alcohol in any form could have been fatal to my wife. Everything had to be inspected for alcohol contents, and you would be surprised at just how many everyday products contain ethanol or some form of alcohol (Most processed foods, Shampoo, Toothpaste, Soap, Sanitizers, Deodorant are all large culprits). Just 3 days into treatment she had her first seizure. This apparently was par for the course. 

Over time I figured out that adrenaline directly brings on the seizures. You never really think about it but there are so many things that cause your adrenaline to spike every day. A door slamming, knocking something over, anything that startles you, the list goes on.

Fighting all of this in the middle of Covid has been even more challenging as her immune system is in a weakened state. Things like the vaccine itself could kill her. Anyone that has helped an immune comprised person through this time knows the sheer terror of being around other people. Knowing that any one of these people might carry the thing that will kill the one you love definitely changes a social butterfly like myself into more of a bat. Lurking and waiting for an opening to do what I need to do with the least contact. Playing people are lava everywhere I go. It's been a very long year and a half but my battle is dwarfed in comparison to my wife's. All of this I do gladly because she's worth it. I am relentless and will continue the course knowing one day we will beat this thing.

A Light Appears

Well through a turn of events that day may come sooner than expected. We found a doctor (the only one in all of Oregon) that can do the stem cell treatments needed and by some miracle a cancellation has led to her getting an appointment on the 5th of April. Their waiting list was 6+ months long so this opening literally was a miracle for us. This is the first of 3 treatments that have an excellent track record for helping defeat and recover from late-stage Lyme disease. 

We recently managed to score a refinance that lowered our monthly mortgage payment while paying off all our debts to make way to shoulder the cost of this treatment out of pocket as insurance considers it experimental and does not cover it. With the assistance of Gma & Gpa Fog we've managed to gather the funds necessary to make this happen and give my wife a chance to fight this thing before it's too late.

A Big Thank You to the Community

It is at times like these that I find myself ever so grateful to you all. A little over 5 years ago, a bunch of you talked me into finally accepting help in covering the costs of Gaiscioch and today it's pretty much self-sufficient so all of my personal resources can be devoted to my wife's treatments while Gaiscioch takes care of itself. I used to have to fork out 200-300 a month for Gaiscioch and now it pretty much is on cruise control. I don't think Gaiscioch could have survived these past two years without your kindness and assistance so thank you so much from the bottom of my heart. You guys and gals have kept the dream alive.

Through all of this, I have leaned on a lot of you and for that, I appreciate you all. I know I've been scarce at times, sometimes quick-tempered, and oftentimes off my A-game. I'm hoping I can get back to the less stressed version of myself soon as my life starts resembling some sense of normal. I appreciate you all who have stuck with me through this and look forward to sharing the next decade or so with you all. Thank you.

In Closing

If you or someone you know has been bitten by a tick or finds a bullseye-like swollen area upon your person. Please get checked. 

The early symptoms are:

• Fever
• Chills
• Headache
• Fatigue
• Muscle pain
• Joint pain and swelling
• Swelling of the lymph nodes
• Erythema migrans (EM), a bull’s-eye-shaped rash that appears at the site of the tick bite

If you're in this stage you can take some antibiotics and be done with it right away without the awful mess that follows.

• Severe headaches and neck stiffness
• Additional EM rashes in new places on the body
• Facial palsy, also known as Bell’s palsy – paralysis of one side of the face
• Arthritis or joint pain and swelling, especially of large joints (such as the knee)
• Intermittent tendon, muscle, joint, nerve, or bone pain
• Heart palpitations or arrhythmia
• Dizziness or shortness of breath
• Inflammation of the brain or spinal cord
• Shooting pains, numbness, or tingling in the hands or feet

Lyme Disease is still not a well-known illness that many doctors are familiar with. There are many doctors who mistake it for one of many other things like fibromyalgia, arthritis or even psychological disorders. If you're chasing your tail looking for answers I'd test for Lyme. It wasn't too expensive and finally gave us a target to shoot at after years of chasing our tail.

For more information about Lyme Disease please visit https://www.aldf.com/

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