Day 2: sharing my symptoms and a glimpse of Lake Chapala, Mexico…

I think it’s important to share some of the symptoms that I have experienced in my EBV journey. This will also help me as I reflect back on where I was pre and post “Stemmies”🤩. In the previous blogs I mentioned I had Mono twice. Mono is the ultimate fatigue. I don’t test regularly for mono(as far as bloodwork), but my NMD believes that with my high titers for EBV there is a good chance I’ve continually had Mono. So fatigue and feeling like you’ve had the plague before the plague is my jam. It’s a constant feeling of am I contagious? So that’s fun. Insert global pandemic and well everyone is feeling that… well, okay not everyone. Lol. With EBV I constantly feel like I have a low grade fever. I am fatigued and generally look forward all day to laying back down. I cancel plans and at this point people stop inviting me. Lol. I believe EBV has affected my eyesight as it came out of nowhere and I now wear🤓. I’ve got that insomnia that helps me with my research. 😂 With the Rona I had shortness of breathe and lost some of my hair. This should grow back with the stem cells 💪🏼 Plus, Rona added more fatigue so that’s a blast. Now the biggest overall symptom is the constant brain fog. As a teacher I was constantly thinking five steps ahead and juggling many things at the same time. Now I forget what I’m saying mid sentence. My words feel jumbled and I just do not feel like myself. I have zero energy to work out and kettlebells and yoga are missing me as much as I am missing them. They told me so. I have felt depression and anxiety mostly due to feeling like I’m never going to get better coupled with the constant trying to explain to people that I don’t feel well (when I look fine). It’s exhausting. Just overall spending my days wanting to lay down. Okay the symptoms are documented. No more Debbie Downer it’s about to be Awesome Autumn (she is loading…🤩) It’s all about to change.

Day 2: So, it’s a 2 hour time difference as they are on CST. I had bloodwork at 9AM (7 my time). They (the company that I’m doing Stem Cells with) provided a list of taxi drivers. I called one of them. He picked me up and drove me to the Lab. I was curious how this would work out as my Spanish is muy poco at best and oddly enough I’m wanting to speak Thai which is bizarre because even after living in Thailand a year my Thai is very limited. In fact I do recall trying to speak Spanish in Thailand. Ha! Maybe I’ve always had brain fog 🤣. In any case the taxi cab said he would wait for me while I got the bloodwork. Wow! That was super sweet. Bloodwork was completed and back to my hotel for the included breakfast. I tried to explain in my Spanglish that I am a vegetarian and pretty sure I told him I was a vegetable. 😂 He said, “oh, I will make you the Especial de Jalisco!” It was delicious! Lots of resting today and a small walk to the lake. I am staying in Lake Chapala. 20 miles South of Guadalajara. The lake is 2 blocks from my hotel. It is the largest lake in Mexico. 50 miles by 10 miles. I’m so grateful to be here. I sat outside at a coffee shop and ate a fruit salad. I was so caught up in my feels. The slow paced life, the smiles, the joy they have have without the need for much. I saw a little boy collecting cans so I struck up a conversation with him. Turns out he was 10 years old (I thought more like 5 or 6) and yet there he was collecting cans and singing while doing so. It all reminds me of my year in Thailand. This is healing in of itself. I often feel that I don’t fit into the American culture. I’m sure I was Thai or Hispanic in a past life because this feels so comforting and peaceful. I’m creating my own Eat, Pray love … it’s called Eat, Meditate, health. Tomorrow is my first treatment.