Hello all my fellow Sunflowers. It has been a while and for that I apologize. A lot has transpired since our last blog in late April. Now that things are getting somewhat more manageable in our life, I have found my way back here to offer my apologies and catch you up on what has been going on.
Delisa has struggled with chronic Lyme disease for about five years, She has likely had it much longer, didn’t realize it, and was only diagnosed about 2-3 years ago. It robs her of strength and endurance and her general health. It has been a daily struggle for nearly our entire relationship. She has ebbs and flows so to speak. Sometimes it’s so mild you almost can’t tell she is hiding the way it makes her feel, and other times she physically can’t get out of bed for 2-3 days at a time except for necessities.
Shortly after we started this blog of documenting our journey, we found a clinic that treats chronic Lyme and does it in a holistic and natural way. This was great news with two main drawbacks. First, the clinic is just outside of Nashville, TN, which is about five or more hours away and requires a two-week treatment program for your first visit. Secondly, it was expensive and does not accept insurance, and insurance won’t pay for the kind of treatments they do. We prayed over the decision and felt that despite the financial strain and time away from our farm it was worth it to give them a shot since nothing else had seemed to work.
In late May, we packed up the car and rode up to Tennessee with Daisy (the best dog) and left my mom in charge of the farm. For two weeks, Delisa spent the majority of the day at the clinic doing treatments, being evaluated, and having meetings with her care provider. This left me at the hotel with Daisy dog and not much to do until she was done for the day. I did a lot of planning and research and pursued my other passion of writing books in my down time.
The transformation after we got home was remarkable. She had more energy and stamina to do more around the farm. We added animals and made plans for even more upgrades and projects. The clinic requested we come back after three months for a week-long treatment. We again packed up in late August, this time entrusting the farm to a friend with plenty of experience and capability to handle what might have come up.
The week passed much the same as the first visit did with lots of down time for me and lots of time in treatment for Delisa. The change when we arrived back home was not as it had been the first time around. She was dealing with a lot more symptoms of her body healing and struggling as she had been before we went for the first visit. As the weeks dragged on, she improved slightly and then the stress of the vaccine mandate came.
Her job, which is classified as a federal contractor due to the federal funds they receive, had to issue a requirement to vaccinate. All of her doctors agreed that she was not a good candidate for the vaccine, and it would likely set her back in her healing journey months if not years. Faced with this knowledge and the unrealistic requirements of weekly tests to confirm she was not infected weighed heavy on her. Her anxiety has always caused her symptoms to flare and become much worse. Knowing what was likely coming, I sought out a part time second job in addition to my EMT job.
We spent many late nights discussing, praying over this situation, and examining our budget that if it became necessary for her to separate herself from that job, we would be able to manage that. With that understanding and a whole truck load of faith, Delisa is preparing to depart traditional employment and turn our farm into her job.
Just two days passed the American holiday of Thanksgiving, we have found peace and are coming to terms with these changes we are facing. We are blessed beyond measure and want to offer our story up for anyone out there to find inspiration or comfort in that you are not alone, and we are all struggling towards a greater goal of self sufficiency and freedom through hard work and a faith. Thank you for coming along on this journey with us and hopefully we will be more regular and focused with our posting. I am currently working on a few more posts that will go up over the next couple weeks to document all the changes our farm has taken in this time of absence. Enjoy and have a Sunflowery day!
Sunflower Farms MS 