The Sideways Life

The Sideways Life
Dorcas Annette Walker

I got another tick bite so I am back on antibiotics again. Rats!!!!!!!!!!!!! And just when I was starting to feel normal. I was outside on a warm sunny day hanging up some wash and puttering around in my flowerbeds a little. I didn’t soak in the tub like I usually do after being outside as early that morning (around 3 am) I had taken a hot bath after waking up in pain to try and get my body relaxed enough to go back to sleep. Instead I took a shower.

The next morning as soon as I woke up I felt something on my back. It was a seed tick. I couldn’t reach it so I woke up my son, who tried to get the tick out, but the tick was embedded deep in my skin. I ended up at the doctor’s office where my doctor had a time trying to get the tick out. He said it was the worst he had seen. Like usual the nasty critter had bitten me three times instead of once. So my doctor put me on antibiotics for a month to make sure that my Lyme’s stays in remission.

I know I should be thankful for the dear pills, but they make you so sick. Instead I am feeling grouchy and out of sorts. My back is sore from where my doctor dug around to get the tick out and each of my bites have spread out in a rash that are hot and itchy. I’ve made a paste of oatmeal, which I keep putting on my bites that helps some. I’m wearing loose light PJ’s as anything that keeps in my body heat aggravates the tick bites and wouldn’t you know it my bites are located at the back of my waist.

I have to keep moving around as I can’t sit up against anything for long. At night I have to sleep mostly on my stomach, which throws my back out and aggravates my spine as my hips bother me (thanks to arthritis) if I sleep sideways very long. What fun! So my nights are spent rotating my body all night long. I feel more like a roasted rotisserie chicken by morning than a rested human being. I stagger through the day feeling tired and sick. When I get too overwhelmed I collapse and take a nap. Ever try reading a book or watching a DVD sitting sideways? Maybe I should write a book on how to live sideways?