I haven’t written in so long.  I considered never writing again.  I was tired, sick, worn down and didn’t really have anything new to say.  I was doing was the same old thing, day in and day out, getting sicker with every passing day. Barely functioning and needing assistance with basic daily living, I just couldn’t pull myself out of the hole I was living in.  So why start writing again? Because something BIG is happening! Something I hope that will be a complete game changer in my fight against Lyme and my co-infections. Something that I want to be able to document and remember.

I have been accepted at a world-renowned treatment center in Germany  (St. Georg Klinik) AND I am being gifted the cost of treatment! One month from today I will be boarding a plane to Germany (just outside of Munich) to start a 22 day inpatient stay at a hospital that ONLY treats Lyme and cancer.  My husband (who happens to speak fluent German, as that is where he grew up) is going with me and will be receiving exposure treatment since Lyme is proven to be sexually transmitted.  His treatment will be 3 days.  We have been working on this for months and it has finally come to fruition.

So what is so special that I would travel so far and be in a hospital that long? I will be receiving treatment that is both medical and holistic and dietary, some of which is not approved in the United States, although used in other countries.  It’s the whole picture being treated at once.  The biggest thing that they are known for is systemic whole body hyperthermia in which they put you under general anesthesia and raise your body temperature to 106.7 degrees Fahrenheit for several hours to basically “bake” or “fry” the spirochetes to death, followed by intensive detoxification. I will receive 2 of these treatments (along with other therapies) and my husband will receive 1 of the treatments during his 3 day treatment.

Some of the other therapies that are part of my treatment plan (more may be added when I arrive and further evaluation and testing is completed) are as follows: dark field blood analysis; Bioscan; oral hygiene set; infusions; Ozone therapy; andulation bed and singulet oxygen therapy; laser therapy; blue light; magnetic field treatment; detox foot bath; enemas; colon hydro therapy; skeletal program; physical therapy (lymph drainage, feet reflexology, Reiki, massage) and a detoxification program.  Because of how severe my case is and how sick I currently am, the klinik has recommended an additional week at their facility to help me detox better and speed my recovery. During that week, I will continue my detox program but several things will be added: plasmapheresis, immune modulation therapy with biopeptides, mitochondrial support and I-therm.

Following treatment at the klinik, I will be sent home with follow-up care and a 6 week basic oral supplementation package to take home (other supplements may be added as needed.)  I will continue certain parts of treatment when I return home.  It will take 4-8 weeks for me to fully experience the full results of the hyperthermia.

For those wondering why I would do all of this to myself the answer is simple: because I want to live again – I want to have a life and feel better.  My body has been wrecked by years of antibiotics and I need to be healed.  I have been off of antibiotics since the beginning of July.  My body is not fully absorbing the medications and supplements that I am on.  I’ve had to increase my dosages to just get what is therapeutic for me.  My only other option here would be to go back on a port and do IV antibiotics again to get the right amount of medication into my system.  I went through so much hell with treatment through a port before that I am not eager to go back to it.  Its debilitating and I cannot be left alone for at least the first 3 months with the port in.  I can’t drive with the port in.  And there’s an extremely high possibility of me having to learn how to speak, read, write, move, etc. all over again.  I could pump my body full of more and more medications with little improvement.  I’m choosing a different path, a new path and hopefully a more successful one.

While the klinik has a 98% success rate, it is by no means a cure.  As of now with medicine, Lyme remains incurable after 18 months.  Being that I have had Lyme for nearly 19 years, I am passed the point of being cured.  Will I need antibiotics again? It’s possible.  Will I need treatment in any form again? Yes, it’s possible.  But if I can get well enough and learn different techniques for maintaining optimal health with a chronic disease, then I will be able to hopefully cut off a major relapse again.  I will be able to get treatment, should I need it, at a much earlier point.

This treatment has given me a renewed sense of hope.  Hope that I can not be bed bound for weeks or months at a time.  Hope that I can stop being hospitalized.  Hope that I can lead a life worth living again.  Hope for having children and to be the best wife/mother/daughter/friend/person I can possibly be.  While Lyme can be passed from mother to baby via the placenta, if my spirochete load is down and my symptoms are under control (in remission,) I will be able to go on a protocol by my current Lyme doctor that reduces the risk of transmission to less that 3%.  I would be able to carry a child of my own.  And should I choose not to carry a baby, I will still be able to BE a mother through adoption or a surrogate. My only undying dream in life has been to be a wife and mother.  I got married and now the possibility of being a mother again is within reach-that alone would be worth any hell I have to endure to be able to a mother who can take care of her children and be active in their lives and not be absent due to this disease.

Please understand that I still think my current Lyme doctors are phenomenal! They saved my life.  I have been a very challenging and exceptional case (per my doctors).  I have had many abnormal things happen and many, many complications, mostly due to my Lyme going untreated and misdiagnosed for so long.  I highly recommend my Lyme doctors! However, the United States remains so far behind so many other countries, not only in treatment of the disease, but the acknowledgement of the severity of Lyme, Chronic Lyme and neuro-borreliosis. (This year the United States voted NOT to approved treatment codes that are accepted by the WHO (World Health Organization) and they cannot be voted on again for the next 5 years.  That’s 5 more years that the government can deny and 5 more years that hundreds of thousands will suffer and not be able to afford treatment, and 5 more years that insurance will NOT have to cover Lyme treatment.)  The United States targets Lyme doctors because the CDC (Center for Disease Control) and NIH (National Institute of Health) do not acknowledge or accept the undeniable proof that treating outside of their “guidelines” is effective. As of this writing, most Lyme doctors do not take insurance or are not covered by insurance, to protect themselves from the government.  Simply put, I cannot get the treatment here that I can receive in Germany because it is not available in this country.

I have hope again.  Real hope is something that I have not had in years.  Its been something that I’ve had to convince myself still exists.  With Lyme, treatment can be (and often is) horrendous.  It’s mentally, physically and emotionally brutal.  I have sworn, since the very beginning, that this disease will not take me without a fight.  I have wavered over the last several months, at times begging my family to just let me let go, but I’ve held on.  This treatment is a new chance for me.  I keep counting the days and they can’t go by fast enough.

I know that there are people who are skeptical.  People who doubt.  People who think I’m just grasping at straws.  But when you are sick, when you are just existing and not living and in pain and suffering everyday, all day, you do what you can.  You research.  You ask. You talk to others.  You do whatever you have to do to get better and improve your quality of life. Why do so many terminal patients try experimental treatments when all other conventional means are exhausted?-because they want to live and so do I.  I’m fighting with every ounce of me that I can. I am EXTREMELY FORTUNATE to have been given this opportunity! I do not deny that at all.  I am blessed to have the love and support of my family and my friends-without them I would never have made it to this point and I wouldn’t be able to make it to treatment without being taken care until I leave. Thank you to my team for all your love and support! I’m going to make you all proud and show you that I take nothing for granted and make the most out of this opportunity! Love you all!!