A Couple of Pests

While perusing the news, I ran across two articles about invaders. One is an invader of the blood stream and the other of trees. Both are connected to me oddly enough, so they caught my interest.

Lyme Disease’s bacterium has been found to be far more unusual than thought. It is the first living organism to be discovered that doesn’t live by consuming iron! Instead it apparently uses maganese as a substitute and that explains why it is so hard for the immune system to fight. Tricky things, the microscopic.

Let’s hope that the research is correct and leads to a better treatment of the disease. I did not enjoy my bout of it last year.

Meanwhile, slightly less close to home, the emerald ash borer has entered Houston County with finds in La Crescent. Worry about the insects has been around for years, but they took their time in arriving. I used to carry a card for identifying the insect that got got thrown out during a fit of wallet cleaning. Time to get another one, I suppose.

Just recently I’d been talking to a friend who will be doing a summer internship mapping out the problem in Winona, which is north of La Crescent. The focus of that won’t just be detection, but advising on substitution of different trees to replace the ones being cut down. Interesting stuff, that.

I find myself disliking bugs of all kinds after reading the news today. I wonder why?

Back to working on my next review.

Health 8-12-2012

Time to report in on how things are going. Other than having a nearly perpetual low level headache, the Lyme Disease symptoms have all but vanished. As I type, a gentle throb in the temples reminds me I did not get through the illness unscathed and this may be the new normal.

Today was a tough one due to waking up tired and aching due to the cold, damp weather. I managed to survive driving almost an hour each way (what a horrible detour) and teaching two Sunday school classes. The drive back was tougher and I found myself nodding off several times along the way. I do not advise driving through hairpin turns on a hill in this condition, by the way. So kids, do not try this at home!

Once home, I tried fending off the need to sleep by watching a movie, but kept nodding off on it – which is really bad since it was a subtitled one! The nap that followed was filled with dreams of rain and joint pain. Not exactly the escape I would prefer.

My face feels rubbery, which is usually a sign that I have gone way past my limits. Forget usually, it is always an indicator I have burned up all my energy.

Alright, I have done my duty in recording my health, time to post this.

Health 7-26-2012

The bout with Lyme Disease took more out of me than I thought and it has been hard to get going this week. Allergies are flaring, so they share at least a little of the blame. What has surprised me is how physically weak I have gotten and it looks like it will be awhile before I get my strength back. My always shaky hands are now erratic at times and I have been accidently knocking things due to the large tremors. Irritating.

On a positive note, I have been hiking up the driveway in hot and humid weather to get the mail with no ill effects. It is strange the stamina is recovering faster than the strength. Headaches are subsiding too, which is good since those combined with allergies is true misery. Still it is not the summer I was hoping for.

Health 7-18-2012

Not the best day, but far from the worst of late. Either allergies have kicked into overdrive or I have gotten a cold. Given how bleary I am, it is probably the latter. Despite the sniffles, I did go out to eat with my father.

Now that the antibiotics are done, I am free to wander in sunlight again. The past two days I have hiked up to the mailbox in high heat without too much trouble, though today took a small eternity.

One lingering side effect from the bout with Lyme Disease has been bad headaches accompanied by swelling along the fissure lines of the skull. While this happens with very bad cycles of CFS for me, it is different in that it never completely subsides. I am hoping this fades in time, since it is making listening to music, watching movies, and playing video games painful.

Maybe things will be better tomorrow.

You Ever Have One of Those Days?

You know, the ones where absolutely everything goes right?

That was yesterday for me and while grateful for it, I am still confused by it. Such a thing has not happened for me in many years. The only reason I know that has been so long is because I could not remember anything like it at all. It felt surreal, though I did remember to be thankful for the day. Even the little things all went perfectly.

Today should be more normal. It is time to pull books off of a book shelf and move it next to the HDTV, since the video collection has outgrown the built in storage in the living room. I can tell the Lyme Disease is pretty much gone by the fact that such a physical thing is on my to do list.

I also seem to be mentally sharper than recent memory records. Whether it is the NADH kicking in or getting over the Lyme bout, I cannot say. It could be both for all I know. What I do know is that writing and rewriting multiple reviews came easily instead of like pulling teeth, which is the norm for me.

Official Results: Lyme Disease Verified

So I contracted Lyme Disease according to the Western blot and had it for two to four weeks before the blood sample was pulled. Not shocking news and ameliorated by the success of antibiotics knocking it down. Another course should nuke it for good.

As for the moment, while the symptoms are still mildly there, I am functional enough to resume my normal routine for the weekend. Today was something of a turning point for that, thankfully.

If It Is Tuesday, Why Does It Feel Like Monday?

All day has felt like an extended case of déjà vu, but not in a good sense. Some of the symptoms of the possible case of Lyme Disease have come back and besides that it just feels like a Monday. Tomorrow being Independence Day is not going to help with the weekday confusion, is it?

Maybe it is the headache that is making me feel off, since it certainly messed me up in one of the League of Legends matches I played today. Good thing it was only a bot match.  I had planned to start playing PVP matches this week, but the health has not been up to it so far. My hands were shaking so badly I wondered if I was going to make it through the second match. Getting killed four times while playing Sona against beginner bots was atrocious.

Not that it was a bad day, there were good things including playing the afore mentioned game with real life friends. Also, I got to preorder Fractale on Blu-ray over at RightStuf. Though I could have saved money with free shipping from Amazon, I live close enough to RightStuf to get the set faster. Though Amazon did succeed in luring me into getting some classics on sale that were in my wish list.

A Passage to India on Blu-ray, Bad Day at Black Rock (truly awesome film) and No Time for Sergeants on DVD were too much to pass up. The last selection was inspired by the need to get free shipping and the fact that Andy Griffith died. It was either that or A Face in the Crowd, but it was the very funny No Time that made him a star.

It looks like my big plans to get a pair of reviews up by the 17th may not work out. The pain is making writing with any signs of intelligence very difficult. Oh well, we will see. I may see the new Spiderman, but I have to say I will go into it with some hostility after watching clips from it. That’s a pity since the Lizard was always my favorite foe of Spidey. I even had the Mego action figure of him when I was a kid.

And suddenly I cannot think of anything more to type. With no clue how to even end the post, I will just end it with a period.

Health 6-30-2012

First results of the antibody screening for Lyme Disease are back and show significantly elevated levels. Next tests have been ordered to clinch the diagnosis.

Today has been a tough day, pain and headaches are still elevated too. Despite naps, I am woozy and shaking. But it seems trivial after looking at photos of the storm damage around the country. I am more concerned about how people recover from that.