If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck.
Looking back:
January of 2024 had me trying to wrap my head around having chronic Lyme disease, probably because it didn’t fit the pattern of what I had been taught in my clinical microbiology classes in medical laboratory school. During 2024 I learned more about tick bites, chronic Lyme (and its co-infections), and other ways in which one can become infected by the associated microscopic critters of Lyme disease than I ever wanted to. Along the way I discovered, that while what I did have hadn’t read the same textbook I was given in school, my symptoms and chronic illness history matched up with what the chronic Lyme community was sharing with me. Denial is not just a major river that’s found in Egypt (the Nile) and once I had mentally worked through the truth about chronic Lyme and me having it, I set out to kill the parasites that were hijacking my body with every ounce of energy that I still had left in me. However, things got worse before they got better. I soon found out that the presence and death of parasites inside of a person often results in the inability to properly detox which can then result in something known as Herxing which I’m pretty sure I experienced for most of the Spring of 2024 right up until Covid darkened my door in early summer. Fortunately for me, 2024’s round of Covid and its aftereffects were not as bad as what I had experienced in 2023 and 2022 and 2021 and 2020. Happy five-year Long-Covid anniversary to us! Covid-19 you are a double-edged sword to me, a nefarious foe, a teacher, a revealer of previously undiagnosed chronic health mysteries, and source of knowledge turned into wisdom. 2025’s wisdom will involve less gusto for killing microscopic bugs and more efforts into strengthening the chinks in my body’s defensive armor in hopes of nourishing a symbiotic relationship with my parasitic infections and the remission of its pesky symptoms. So far, I think I’m off to a good start. Broccoli Sprout Cheers!
I was a bit shocked by my test results because while I have had a few ticks on me since moving to an area where there are lots more of them, I have never gotten sick right after having a tick bite or had the tale tell bull’s eye rash. However, there was this neurological Lyme-ish similarity that got me thinking about ducks……
Co-Infections and a Good Report, Stephanie Schaible
Looking forward
I am happy to announce that I have dusted off the manuscript for my book Leaving Death in the Dust (A Memoir of a Daughter and Her Father in Chronic Health Crisis) which I started working on 3 years ago. Its dedication page will say something like this-
For my Dad, Scott (The Walking Miracle),
and others living with chronic illness.
May you find purpose and meaning in your suffering
and remain hopeful when you feel its despair.
A sneak peak of it will be made available to my founding member subscribers. However, these sneak peaks will not be emailed in the typical newsletter format. I will email founding members with a link to the memoir snippets as they are finished. They will be placed in the new Leaving Death in the Dust “Memoir” section which can be found on our Substack home page. Please respect my copy rights by not sharing these memoir snippets with others. Tentative plans include publishing paper and digital copies of the memoir. If you want in, now would be a good time to consider upgrading your subscription for Leaving Death in the Dust to “Founding Member” status. If you have direct access to me, and don’t want to go through Substack to upgrade your subscription to “Founding Member”, get in touch with me about making arrangements to do the upgrade in person. Also, if any of you would be interested in becoming a paid subscriber to Leaving Death in the Dust, but are financially challenged, please get in touch with me (Substack has a direct messaging feature) to see about making arrangements to get you a paid subscription for free. This give-away may require a Zoom meeting in which I would hope to get to know you better, learn some things about your chronic health condition/story, and if/how you’ve been helped by our newsletters.
I hope to be spending more of my time on the memoir in 2025, but I will still be writing the Leaving Death in the Dust newsletter with the goal of emailing a new one out at least once per month as I have not forgotten about reporting on my experiences with PEMF, homeopathy, and grounding mats. Plus, I may even throw in some things about immune modulating herbs that are used to treat Lyme disease which I think may also be helpful for other conditions like long-covid.
Best Wishes,
My name is Stephanie, I can do hard things, and Leaving Death in the Dust was created in sickness and in hope for healthy healing.
******Remember to make prayer a first priority.
Leaving Death in the Dust was created to help beautiful human beings, who are sick, tired, and chronically ill, become more actively involved in their own health care. I’m glad you’re here, and I hope that you have found our newsletters to be helpful.
Leaving Death in the Dust is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
What you get with a subscription to Leaving Death in the Dust:
Free Subscription:
Access to all of our free newsletters.
Paid subscription, monthly or annual:
Access to all of our paywalled newsletters and archives.
Founding Member Subscription (PAID):
Request a topic for me to research and write about & get access to my memoir.
I will research and write about something you are interested in learning more about i.e. cancer, long covid (and its coinfections), alternative/complimentary treatments, and/or other mitochondrial health (energy production) related things.
*Leaving Death in the Dust is a newsletter and is not a replacement for professional, regulated, medical, healthcare. This is informational and educational. Some of us in this community may have worked in the healthcare system, but we are not your medical provider and whatever you find here is not the establishment of a professional medical relationship or medical advice. **That is an MT behind my name not an MD.