My Story (the beginning).....

Hello all! I am Samantha and I was diagnosed with Chronic Lymes Meningitis in August 2011. I am 28 years old, married, a special education teacher and live in southern New Jersey. I wanted to start a Blog to help raise awareness of what Lyme Disease can do to people. I am just starting out with this blog. I will be posting pictures, videos, links to helpful Lyme Disease Websites, etc.  I will be writing a little at a time and break it into easy to read paragraphs (us lymers have trouble concentrating and reading) I will begin with my story…..

Summer 2011: As the summer began I was feeling very tired and achy, but I am also a teacher and the year just ended so I was thinking my body was just tired from the year or I thought maybe I could be pregnant so… I ignored these symptoms.
JULY 2011: In the beginning of July I started having terrible earaches. I had severe pressure in my ears so bad that I felt like I was up in the mountains or in an airplane.

The pain was so bad that on July 4^th weekend I actually went to the ER just to be seen. The ER doctor told me that I had a severe ear infection. I then started antibiotics and eardrops I was told to follow up with my primary doctor on Monday. As I started the ear drops and medicine I felt like I was getting worse so I decided to just stop until I could get in to see my primary doctor. The primary looked into my ears and said they are perfectly fine and she sees no infection at all. I told her that the pain was so intense that something had to be wrong. My doctor then recommended that I see an ear, nose & throat doctor. The ENT looked in my ear and even a little camera up my nose, overall he told me that I had severe allergies and gave me a shot of steroids. He also gave me a prescription for steroids to take and to follow up with him in September for allergy testing.

 As this was all going on I had to start my summer teaching job. I teach extended school year in the summer to my students for 4 weeks (2 hours a day). Everyday after work I would go home and eat lunch. I then had many errands to run or projects to begin but instead I would eat lunch and sleep on the couch for almost 4 hours after my 2-hour workday. I really had no energy to do ANYTHING at all and again just thought I was tired from the school year.

 As I was teaching I then noticed I was having some memory confusion such as asking my assistants if we sang certain everyday songs or if we read a story. I also was not remembering conversations I had with my family or friends. Overall I would just laugh and I would blame it on not having drank enough coffee that morning. Again, I was just ignoring most of these "symptoms" b/c.. Hey! I was a healthy 27 year old girl!

As the summer continued I was down the shore a lot staying at my parents shore house. Now, I am a fun party girl. I like to drink socially, play games, go out, ride on the waverunner, etc. I ended up going to bed at 9pm and just wanting to sleep on the beach and not go out and not do anything. I didn’t really notice I was not acting like myself but I was told that my family did notice. About mid August I noticed my arm and legs would start going numb and I would wake up and just lay my arm/leg off the side of the bed to help let the blood flow (thinking I was laying on my arm or something in my sleep). I then started having this tingly numb feeling in my arms and legs throughout the day (when I know I wasn’t cutting off blood circulation). I mentioned this feeling to my husband and parents and they told me just to call the doctor and let them know.. but really?? What was I going to call the doctor and let them know that my arm falls asleep for a minute? Well, I never called.

The numbness and tingly then started again but for a longer period of time and one night it was crazy. I told my husband and he asked if I ever called the dr.. which my reply was no. I then got into bed for the night and BOOM! My heart felt like it was jumping out of my chest and my body would not move. I then tried to scream or get out of bed to get to my husband and tell him something was really wrong this time. As I went to yell nothing came out. Tears running down my face.. I was officially scared! I went to get out of bed and fell to the ground. I was then crawling, pulling myself across the floor into the hallway to get my husband (who was in the bathroom and knew none of this was going on). I was trying to get to the bathroom door where he was but I froze and again no voice was coming out of my mouth. I am not going to lie I thought I was dying right then and there. My husband then opened the door and saw me on the ground not being able to move and could barely talk. He then took me right to the ER…..