The title says it all. For some time it felt like progress was so slow and that this journey may never end. Though when the end might be is still anyone's guess since new tick labs won't be done for at least a few more weeks. I am definitely seeing signs that point towards good things though. I am determined to believe that they are just the first signs of many to come.
A lot of the positive things are coming through Thane's work. With the benefit of the addition of Ester-C which supports collagen repair, a number of my concerns about the future of our partnership are just slipping away. This is a very positive thing that has given me back hope for our future.
Recently I thought Thane was bruising again amongst other changes that were not so good. I was dashed but remembered my readings in Healing Lyme about biofilm and cyst forms and tried to assure myself that this was just part of the process. When I pointed a bruise out to a sighted person however, it turned out to not be a bruise at all. but darker hair beginning its growth back in. This was on his hip but the same could be said for the other places of supposed new bruising! I was ecstatic.
That night as I groomed Thane, I spent some moments stroking the new hair growth. This may sound silly to some, but Thane has had skin color single coat hair on that hip for almost a year now. Some of it I believed was caused by a flea product I used for bathing while the rest I suspected to be from his staph infection. Of course at that point we had no idea he had this infection because he had Lyme. I had come to face reality that this hair on his hip may never be what it once was even after Lyme was behind us. Then here I was stroking the reality that healing may come in all forms for Thane. It may not be completed in lightening speed, but given time his coat may be just what it was before that tick devastated our lives.
Recently we went through a period of Thane being outright stubborn about where we were going. He wanted us to go the route he wanted us to go. Most teams would have looked at this as a huge headache and I am sure at the time it was occurring a part of me wished it was not happening. That all said, when it surfaced another part of me was thrilled by its appearance. Go ahead and laugh, but this is a side of Thane that has made me a better trainer and handler. It's also a side of him that I had not really seen since Lyme took over so I was reveling in its return because by it returning it felt like one more area had been released from the stronghold of the spirochetes. It's all about how one looks at things.
The last few days, I have seen a return to a lively bouncy Border Collie boy whether we are at home playing or out walking or working, there is an extra pizaz in his step and actions that had been lost. Now it's back and I am loving it!
Our work has shown just how much progress has been made in conquering Lyme. He is just really into whatever we are doing. We even went back to the nature trail for the first time since his Lyme diagnosis. We were finally home.
