Sarah: Crane #3

Here is the crane I made for Sarah:

I decided to post hers on Christmas because I made her a green crane, for Lyme, and a red box, to make it a Christmas-y theme.  So, Merry Christmas to Sarah, and those that celebrate it, and Happy Holidays/December Season to those who don't!

My mom just made the most amazing feast!

When I was first diagnosed with Lymes, a close friend from back in high school mentioned a family friend had been sick with Lyme for a long time.  He asked if I wanted to talk to her, and I said I would.  And so through these...interesting circumstances, Sarah and I met!  It was a great thing, because Sarah lives close to me, in the tick-ridden lands of eastern Pennsylvania.  We plan to meet at a future support group, when I am able to go.

Going on the Christmas theme, I decided on this prayer for Sarah.  It's a poem called "Christmas Wish" by Myra Scovel

God give you blessings at Christmas time;
Stars for your darkness, sun for your day,
Light on the path as you search for the Way,
And a mountain to climb.
God grant you courage this coming year,
Fruit for your striving, friends if you roam,
Joy in your labor, love in your home,
And a summit to clear

I asked Sarah what she'd like me to talk about for this blog post, and she told me I could say what I wanted.  I'm not quite sure she knew what she was unleashing, but I shall try to restrain myself.  She also said: "I'm just a person with Lyme who also wants to help others any way that I can! God bless." I think that describes her more than she knows!

Sarah is getting better and is maintaining an impressively healthy lifestyle.  She's even made a blog about Lyme and her battle with it to help other people with the disease.  To all the Lymies who read this, her website is a great inspiration and full of good info:

Lyme Girl: Ticks suck, but I'm beating Lyme Disease!

This blog is already Lyme-filled, but I think for all the people who don't know that much about Lyme, I'd recommend watching this extended trailer from the documentary Under Our Skin.  It's only about five minutes long, and really drives home what it's like to live with Lyme today:

So happy holidays, everyone!  And Merry Christmas, Sarah. :)

Val: Crane #2

Here is the crane I made for Val:

Val has been one of my closest friends for many years.  We met in college while I was crazy and she was...well, crazy, in a much better way than I was crazy.  The "have a very good time in original yet somehow legal ways" crazy.  She's been with me through my illness and it means the world that she's stuck around while times have been tough.  You couldn't ask for a better friend.  You hear that?  I love you!

She's not into religion like I am, so I thought it would be weird to put a prayer for her.  But Val does like Star Trek: she even has costumes for Kirk and Spock!  So I thought a much more appropriate quote would be this:

"Live long and prosper." - Vulcan Proverb

Val also has Type 1 Diabetes.  I never realized  how hard that was for her until I myself became ill.  I didn't think about it that much when I was able-bodied, besides occasionally when it would come up. I remember once she was showing me how she checks her blood sugar and everything she has to take to keep her body well.  It kind of bounced off of me and I feel very bad for that.  Now that the doctors figured out she has Type 1 and not Type 2, she needs insulin, which is awful because needles are one of her least favorite things.  That's got to be the worst!

Val told me to talk about letting go of fear, or moving past fear.  Ahah, that's a hard one for me, but I'm going to try my best.  Basically, Val is a good example of letting go fear.  She's about to graduate with a hard-won electrical engineering degree, and doesn't know where she's going to go from there.  She wants to work for NASA, and somebody told her, "Nobody's told you no yet."  ;)  I think she'll do it one day.  I think we can all be afraid of uncertainties in our lives, but one thing I've found that helps is looking back and remembering all those countless times "it will never work out" situations worked out fine.

I really can be a grumpy miserable person sometimes.  I sound so WOO HOOO on this blog for some reason. ^^;

What anyone reading this can do is realize how many people are affected by Diabetes, and how it is going to be one of the major health problems of our time.  It already is: 1.6 million people in the US will be diagnosed with Diabetes each year, and Diabetes is the seventh leading cause of death in the United States.  By 2050 one in three people in the United States will have Diabetes.  That's one in three people living with a chronic illness which requires lots of medical care.  Let's hope we find the cure before then!  Just in my family, my father grandmother, and aunts have the condition.

Learn More about Diabetes

As many Lyme patients know, often the first diagnosis you get is: "Why, you must just be crazy!" or some variation of that.  It's invalidating to be told "it's in your head"  when you know your body and you know there is something seriously wrong.  Val sent me  a card recently that read: "YOU MAY THINK YOU'RE GOING CRAZY.  BUT YOU'RE NOT."  It brightened my whole day.  She also counseled me on sugar free and low carb diets, which was great, because otherwise, I'd be lost.

Crissy: Crane #1

Here is the crane and box I made for Crissy, as well as a little prayer:

When you live as a light,
Your heart is joined in the Infinite Light of Love.
And that about you which is eternal … remains. 

-your light remains - rev. jacquie riker - 2003

Hah my pictures are always complimented by the eternal comforter. ^^; Yay webcam.

This is a special update for Crissy, because she is fighting to stay out of the hospital right now.  If everyone who reads this could keep her in their thoughts, and/or pray that she is at home for the holiday season, that would be wonderful.

Crissy likes tea, Gackt, and other such awesome things.  She's a positive person with a strong faith in God.  She also  has M.E., Myalgic Encephalomyelitis, a neurological disease, and Lyme and co-infections.  M.E. is a disease distinct from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.  Since M.E. is a relatively rare, quite serious disease that is often confused with CFS, I think something everyone could do would be to read more about it.  This disease really needs some awareness!

You can read about M.E. here:

ME Research, United Kingdom 

The Hummingbird's Foundation 

It's a real miracle that Crissy and I met and became friends.  Without Crissy and another good friend who introduced me to her, I have no idea where I would be right now.  I might still be in that horrible Lymie phase of "They say I'm crazy but the left side of my face is drooping and I can't walk and I'm coughing up my insides!  Why is this happening? D:"  I also don't think I'd have developed such a positive outlook on my illness.  So, thank you, dear.  I'm praying for you!

Three cranes!

Using the internet at present is a herculean effort--I'm pretty much in bed most of the time and the wireless struggles to extend up to my room.  It is also a herculean effort to do that much at all, so these two combined has made this blog pretty tough to update!  But I have made three cranes for Crissy, Val and Sarah, and I'm going to post a picture of them.  When my strength and my wireless signal's strength combine, I'll write up profiles. :)

Coming soon

I will start making cranes on Saturday, the 18th of December.  I am going on medical leave from graduate school, and returning home at the end of the semester.  I am excited to start my project.