Taken Down by a Tick

It seems my absence from the blogosphere over the past few weeks here and on my Fast Company blog has not gone unnoticed.  I am touched.  To everyone who has inquired into my whereabouts, thank you and let me explain–I was taken down by a tick.  Or rather by the Lyme disease transmitted to me by said tick.

The good news is that I am well on the road to recovery, and even relaunched my Fast Company blog, the “New Work+Life Flex Normal” this week.  But it has been an interesting, frustrating and sometimes scary experience.  Here is what I’ve learned:

1. Take Lyme disease very seriously. I didn’t.  When I was first diagnosed with the standard “bulls eye” rash earlier in the summer, I didn’t finish the four weeks of antibiotics because they upset my stomach, and  “I feel great!”  Bad, bad idea.  They aren’t sure if this was a recurrence of the initial Lyme that wasn’t fully treated or a reinfection, but horror stories I have heard since sharing my diagnosis are alarming (including this one about another tick borne illness in The New York Times).  Thankfully, I was undiagnosed for only about three weeks, but that was long enough.
2. Sometimes, you just have to say you can’t do it…and you survive. For two weeks,  I dragged myself to work thinking I had a virus that would go away eventually. It  wasn’t until I landed in the hospital three weeks ago and was given an initial diagnosis of  Lyme that I finally begrudgingly admitted I needed to take time off.I work for myself.  If I don’t work, I don’t get paid.  Not to mention the fact that I love what I do and it takes a lot to knock me out of the game.  I’m lucky that my husband has a job; therefore, my family will eat and the mortgage will be paid.  Not everyone who works for themselves has that luxury (not to mention everyone else who doesn’t get paid sick days, but that’s another post for another day.)  Still, it’s tough to cancel speeches, reschedule client meetings, pass on a great blog topic and ask your amazing, busy team to take on your work too.  But sometimes you just have to say you can’t do it…and you, or rather I, survived.
3. Thank goodness for antibiotics, Twitter and Facebook–An interesting non sequitur, but all played a role in my recovery.  I’m three weeks into another four week cycle of antibiotics and, as was the case with my earlier diagnosis, I’m feeling better.  Only this go round I’m taking every last little blue pill until all Lyme spirochetes are dead and gone.   Thank you, thank you to the smart people who discovered antibiotics.While I didn’t have the energy to blog, Twitter and Facebook let me stay somewhat connected in between naps.  I didn’t think it was possible, but I appreciate the power of social media even more than I did before.   Thank you, thank you to the smart people who thought of Twitter and Facebook.

And thanks to everyone for their understanding and good wishes.   I’m diving back into the blogsphere full speed and look forward to continuing the vibrant, important process of rethinking life, work, and business in this new work+life flex normal.  And I am forever humbled by the power of a small tick to take me down.