Horse Show

On day 10 after Gall Bladder surgery I was up early and gathering my gear for my first horse show of the season. It wasn't a horse show like many, because this was a MINIATURE horse show and you don't ride minis! All the animals were beautified for the weeks ahead of the show and the day before and day of they were perfected for the ring and judges eyes! Showing is something I'm allowed to do with the miniature barn I'm allowed to visit frequently and help out at. Me and the owner, Wanda, have a great connection and we are like family! 'My horse', Miracle, is a mini that she keeps at her barn and lets me see as often as I need or want to. If I'm feeling well I'll try to be there twice a week or more, cleaning out the barn, refilling water buckets, taking the babies for walks to get them used to halters and brushing down any in my path. There's quite a few of them, at one point close to 40 of them!

The show went well, I stayed in the shade, tried to remember to relax, and went in three classes. A show is split up into multiple classes where the judge looks for different things in each class and judges accordingly. You can enter more than one in a day, and enter different classes with different horses. In the last classes of the day, called Liberty, you have 1:30 to dance with the horse to music of your choice without touching them with the whip, while the judge looks for teamwork, enthusiasm, changes in gaits (speeds) and directions, and the animals cooperation. You then have 3 minutes to get the halter on the horse and lead them out. Miracle ran for the majority of the class, more than she usually does or ever has before, switching directions even though not as frequently as I wished. At the end she ran right to me playfully taking another lap and putting her head into the halter for me. Talk about teamwork. The video will be on my mother's youtube channel (alagash98) and probably on my facebook accounts as well.

Heres a picture of me and my best bud waiting for class #2, and some of us just chilling!

Hyperbaric Oxygen Treatment

As part of my drug holiday and to help me recover from lingering concussion symptoms, my Lyme doctor really urged us to try Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT). The office has a soft shelled chamber that basically pressurizes oxygen into your system while breathing 100% oxygen for different amounts of times. The thought is that the oxygen increase for the short amount of time increases circulation and oxygen levels to the point where people receiving the therapy notice improved energy levels and medicine effectiveness. Children receiving Chemotherapy spend time in the chamber directly after their treatments to increase the Chemo's effectiveness by pushing it into all the tissues. Concussion symptoms are noticeably improved by the oxygen increase to the brain and Lyme sufferers may notice more energy and less joint and muscle problems. This is an effective way of improving the benefits of treatment but it is out of pocket and fairly expensive. For one day, the next three weeks, I'm going to receive treatments to clear my concussion symptoms and help with whatever Lyme detoxing I'm doing on this drug holiday. Huge prayers that I can have the patience to lay in this loud machine for an hour and fifteen minutes every Tuesday morning and still be able to drive home afterward.

Moving Forward

Last Monday I got the clear from my Lyme Doctor and Tailbone Surgeon to move forward with my life. I got a job at Gunstock Ski area and will be starting in mid December. My first orientation is tomorrow! I finished Driver's Education and got my green slip last Tuesday, will be getting my license before my job begins. I started catching back up on World History and Earth Science work i was stuck on, almost completely finishing World History in two days, with higher than stellar marks. I've met a few friends along the way and started hanging out more with the people in my life, including overcoming a break up which was very emotionally challenging. Sickness can mask many feelings that a couple knows should be dealt with, but instead find it easier to just ignore. That was only one small thing I discovered about my new found health. Just last night I went to the Civil Air Patrol wing near me, and decided to join. Civil Air Patrol is a youth volunteer auxiliary of the Air Force and will lead me to being a part of Emergency Services and enlisting when I graduate High School into the Air Guard. I actually auditioned for a school wide talent show with my guitar and voice and made it, so I will be playing in front of the entire school, staff, and any parents or additional on lookers. I am so excited to be branching out to the world and exercising again. I feel alive and free, and at the same time I'm trying to hold myself back so I don't overdo myself because I'm still on the Picc line for my sixth month and coartem for my third month. I could at any point encounter a relapse, but a good friend of mine once said: "The secret to having it all is believing that you already do." (Jill Russel). I Believe I have all the health I need to make it the rest of my life satisfied, but the best part of being a teenager is actually being a teenager, so I'm eager to embrace this era.

Weather and Barometer

As many may notice, when the weather gets bad, the barometer goes down, or the skies cloud over, you may notice the change in symptoms. I have come to realize that any change in weather, temperature, or barometric pressure increases the pain, and puts me into bed. over the course of a morning the sky can go from sunny to foggy or rainy, and I can go from okay to far below that!

If you are on the same track, understand that god is not punishing you, but testing you. You could have a great day and then be crumby the next week! It is just part of this illness and most realize the change in body when a storms coming, and I can even predict weather sometimes just by my grogginess.

As a storm comes closer the pressure in the Atmosphere usually increases causing the barometer to fall, and causing the joints in the body to feel greater strain. So if something's off, check the forecast!

Many feel this way in Winter and better in Summer, some feel worse in Summer better in Winter. It all depends what your Lyme Decides it doesn't like more....to put it more understandable. Every person is different but I can assure you that your increasing misery is shared with others, just stick through it and take it easy.

Let's Try again!

I decided I wanted to read again. I have been held back from my hobby of sitting down and dusting through a good horse book, and I simply picked up chicken soup for the horse lover's soul and struggled through the stories, one by one last night. I got through maybe 10/11 pages before I stopped, and figured out it took me over an hour. That is a long time for me. I used to swiftly slide page by page and finish 1/2 a book in a little over an hour. I definitely could notice some trouble and delay, but today I shall pick the book up again and not let reading be one of my many weaknesses, but one of my talents. I love to read which has helped me get so far in school. I was upset in the beginning almost a year ago when my head hurt too bad for me to finish my book. So I guess we can consider this as an improvement. I have not come far, but once I got over the rocky hill of headaches and migraines through last week, my head has hurt less than ever, just the tiniest of headaches. My whole body still hurts, and my brain is exhausted, but to pick up a book again is too nice to let this moment slip by.

It is important when you are robbed of all your hobbies, sports, talents, and health that you let yourself slowly feel back those past times. For me it was reading, soccer, and schooling. When my headaches started with Lyme I couldn't continue any of it, and my organizational skills slipped as well. Now I try hard every day to just struggle through reading something, and to pick up my home school and accomplish my days work. So much for soccer though, now I have the horseback riding to lift me up again. If you feel the way I do then pick up something you used to do rapidly and love doing. Together we can slowly pick up the pieces of a crumbled life and work through a puzzling situation. If you cannot do what you loved to do, then find something new. Something that you can feel hope with, and accomplishment. Scrap booking, Beading, writing in a journal, even creating things with Lego's. Everything we can manage is an accomplishment and a corner stone for health!
I am still no less tired but I look at a small improvement and feel hope. Please feel hope along with me. I pray hard that I'll wake up and not have a headache... after so long. pray with me, because that is where my strength comes from.