Just keep moving into the light.
This has been my mantra for years, and although I’m not always able to sustain this, I know the light is always there, even when symptoms overtake my mind and body.
I was bitten by a tick in the summer of 2002. I never saw the bite, but in the midst of a lovely summer, I became violently ill with high fever, extreme body aches, pain on the bottom of my feet making it difficult to walk, dizziness, bedridden. The acuity of the illness let up after a few weeks, but a bevy of odd symptoms began emerging and building over the coming months.
By 2004 the convergence of symptoms combined with my tenacious will to keep living my life as fully as I had (working, raising children, exercising, community and social involvement, travel) brought my life to a screeching halt, and I was forced to adapt to what doctors called “chronic fatigue syndrome.” It was an embarrassing diagnosis, and one misunderstood by most people. I rarely shared it with colleagues, friends outside of my closest circle, or certain family members. At times when I ventured to do so, a common retort was “I’m tired, too,” as I’d watch the person fully functioning in life while I spent hours resting in between work, family, and social activities adapted to my amended life with ME/CFS. Thankfully my husband never doubted that something was intensely wrong with my body. He’s been loyal and at my side throughout this journey. He’s one of the greatest gifts of my life.
To read the rest of Gretchen's story, click here. | 
