When I stopped the IV antibiotics in late November 2016, I also happened to be in the middle of investigating a suspicious breast lump. A stress-filled two months later, I had a mastectomy and DIEP reconstruction.

DIEP is a new reconstruction  method that replaces your breast with tissue from your abdomen, kind of like a tummy tuck, but you move the fat. I was naturally worried, such a physical attack would cause me to relapse with Lyme.

I am writing this almost two months post surgery. It kicked my ass, as expected, but  I healed very quickly compared to most breast cancer patients!

Today, I am still having hot flashes, which concern me, and still fight vertigo symptoms and some head pressure. I have fatigue, again as expected, but I have not seen my worst Lyme symptoms come flooding back.

I ride my exercise bike for two hours each day, and I am ramping up the settings from a sleepy casual pedal to a faster churn. This is a big deal!  Four months ago, the fast churn would’ve had me limping the next day with swollen legs from mitochondrial issues.

I may be ready to build muscle again 🙂 I am also trying to work on my arms, which are beyond weak.

My Lyme doctor tells me that if I do relapse, treatment can address it quickly. I may be down for a couple weeks or a month. That sounds inconvenient, but like a cakewalk after all these years.

Until they make more treatment breakthroughs, Lyme and the other tick illnesses in my body will always be there. I can not burn the candle at both ends, or run myself ragged. They will take hold, if I do.

My whole life was disrupted. It was not only derailed for several years, but permanently changed. Casual friends are gone. Old creative goals are gone. Old jobs are gone. Financial independence is gone. My muscles are nearly gone. My left breast is gone.

I have a lot of catching up to do with my partner, family, friends and pets. I’ve been in life in recent years, but like an erratic ghost to all who know me.

But in about a month, I am planning to start working, living and enjoying myself. Right now I am still very much in a chrysalis.