Into every wedding some Lyme must fall

For those of you who don't know, I have the best "why I haven't been blogging excuse" ever: Lyme disease.

Apparently, this all started at George’s bachelor party camping trip to Sugar River near Rockford. I do remember pulling a tick off my leg, but I don't remember having one on me for the 24+ hours it supposedly takes to spread Lyme, nor did I get the distinctive bulls eye rash that often accompanies it.

I spent the next four weeks being sick and generally dragging ass. Rather tackling our long-list of wedding tasks (including this blog), instead I was coming home from work and taking naps. I got what seemed to be pneumonia, followed by headaches and neck/shoulder/arm pain. All this culminated on the Friday I woke up with a stiff jaw that evolved into a paralyzed face. By the next morning, I was in the hospital. Four days, one spinal tap and a whole lot of vicodin later, I was home with bilateral Bell's palsy (paralyzed face) and a diagnosis of Lyme disease. Less than three weeks before my wedding.

First and most importantly, I'm fine. I have to take IV antibiotics through a catheter in my arm for four weeks, at which point I should be completely Lyme-free. Amanda's administers the antibiotics, which only takes about 10 minutes. In the meantime, I can't get the catheter wet or overextend my arm. I don't really have any symptoms, and generally feel pretty great.

Except…did I mention the part about my face being paralyzed two weeks before the wedding?

This has really been the hardest part. I'm usually pretty optimistic, but this time I've been trying to be brutally honest, preparing myself for not being able to laugh at my wedding, or really taste the food, or give a speech and have people understand me. For not being able to smile at Amanda when she walks down the aisle towards me, something I've been looking forward to a long time. Considering this is the only serious health problem I've ever had, I've tried to keep the self pity to a minimum. But it's hard not to curse the timing.

Except...last Tuesday, I was suddenly able to waggle my eyebrows. And by Wednesday, turn the corners of my mouth up in a smile. And today to flare my nostrils, successfully drink from a can and give a full-fledged (if mysterious-looking) smile to my niece. Two weeks is an extraordinarily fast recovery time for Bell's palsy, so this is beyond my wildest hopes.

Short version: pardon my lack of blogging, and don't mind my half-smile at the wedding; it could be worse.