I posted this list on Facebook last week. These are all approximate timeframes, and this excludes the more detailed and/or contentious details. But it was interesting to try to recount this sequencially.Four years ago today, I got a tick bite near Paola Creek. And then I lived happily ever after. Thank goodness Montana doesn't have Lyme disease ; )
Time it took in woods that day to scare a moose: 3 hours
To escape angry moose: 12 seconds (through thick brush)
To pick up tick: probably same 12 seconds
To find tick: 6 more hours
To experience first symptoms: 1 or 2 weeks (chills, clenched jaw, neck pain)
To realize I was sick: 3 weeks (excruciating sore throat, then what I thought was an ear infection)
To experience partial facial paralysis: 4 weeks (bells palsy)
To be told tick bite could not be related: same day
To regain facial movement: 4 months from tick bite (3 months from paralysis)
To begin confusing doctors and becoming a human pin cushion: 5 months (from tick bite)
To be diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome and disallowed exercise: 6 months
To begin falling through legal cracks with my employer: 8 months
To dramatically lose health ground while fighting for my job: 10 months
To start getting harassed by federal attorneys: 10 months
To have to file an EEO complaint: 11 months
To become bed ridden: 12 months
To hire a lawyer: 12 months
To be forced into leave without pay: 13 months
To lose my job: 17 months
To begin investigation phase of EEO process: 18 months
To fly to DC to mediate with department of agriculture to get my job back: 20 months
To return to work: 21 months
To finally be able to pursue correct diagnosis: 29 months
To be diagnosed with Lyme disease: 34 months
To be well on my way to recovery: 38 months
To be fairly pain free and high functioning: 41 months
To start losing facial function due to work stress: 46 months
Return of facial pain, body pain, sound sensitivity and fatigue: 47 months
Today: 48 months
P.S. I know this is temporary. I will do whatever I need to to get back to where I was from month 41 to month 46, and then better. My recovery after I started treatment (after 3 years without treatment) was one of the BEST I've read about. And all of my friends and family and 90% of my colleagues have supported me to overwhelmingly beautiful extents. There are really amazing people in this world.
