SILENCE
By Julia Roddy
In 2008, I lay in a hospital bed too ill to make it to the bathroom unassisted. My husband arrived with our two baby sons. I tried to lift my two year old, but I couldn’t, my arms were too weak, then the pounding headache returned, like someone was hammering my head. I saw maybe nine doctors in the two weeks in hospital, most of them suspected, meningitis, with an underlying virus. I got a negative for Lyme and was discharged by a consultant who diagnosed me with the ‘common flu’ I will never forget her saying those words. I never recovered. It was the beginning of my Lyme journey.
Two years later I returned to my dream job of lecturing young people in screen writing. I went to work came home, fed my children and went to bed. As years passed, I lost friends, loved ones, my forties, eventually my job, and precious time with my children, all because there was no medic available to think outside the box. It was obvious to me I either had MS or Lyme. I requested another Lyme test only to be told by my neurologist I did not have Lyme symptoms. Finally ten years later I changed GP. I had difficulty walking and my memory badly affected. My new GP diagnosed me with chronic Lyme and with the help of good people we raised funds to go for treatment in Germany.
Living with a chronic illness stole so much of my life, my energy, my joy. The pain I endured was indescribable. Not being heard or believed was the hardest part. My healing journey began when I met a GP who understood and listened, she recommended a Lyme clinic in Munich and I met Lyme doctors who helped send me on a road to recovery and healing.