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Donna M

Hi Everyone,

I know I've been saying I would write my journey for some time now. It has been a work in progress plus I'm trying not to write a novel and bore everyone.

Today, however I will let everyone know why I named my thread the Red Cardinal and share some very good news. Hopefully I will complete the story of my journey thus far in the next few days.

First, the reason I named my thread, "The Red Cardinal" The red cardinal has a great deal of symbolic and religious meaning to me and many.

Birds, doves in particular, have long been a symbol of the holy spirit. Renderings of the holy spirit generally contain one of two elements, white light or red flames. The white dove represents the purity and peace in the light of the spirit and the red cardinal represents the fire and vitality of the living spirit. In addition, the cardinal is symbolic of the living blood of Christ. Both cardinals and blood have long been symbols of vitality, and in the Christian context, that vitality is everlasting. "By His blood we are freed from sin to serve the living God, to glorify Him, and to enjoy Him forever." Traditionally, the cardinal is symbolic of life, hope and restoration. These symbols connect cardinal birds to living faith, and so they come to remind us, that though circumstances might look bleak, dark and despairing, there is always "hope".

The Cardinal Color Red: is symbolic of: Vitality, importance, faith & power.

Cardinals can bring color and vitality into our lives. Their crimson color can remind us of the importance of ourselves as individuals in the circle of life. As the cardinal red color is symbolic of faith, so it can remind us to "keep the faith" though circumstances might look bleak, dark and hopeless.

Through my journey, I would often go outside and still do to pray. Although we live in town, our property has an abundance of oak and pine trees and needless to say many varieties of birds. We have lived in our home for 30 years and I truly loved it up until this point. (Ironically, I may have gotten M from bird mites, although I can't be certain.)

Back to the story... After praying I noticed a pair of red cardinals (male and female) flying. For some reason, they touched my heart. Some people believe cardinals represent visitations from loved ones who have died. My first thought was could this be a sign/visitation from my parents to console me? I continued to see them often, especially when I was feeling brokenhearted, sad and depressed over this disease. They brought me a great sense of comfort and renewed my faith. One day after asking God to show me a sign that I would be cured of this, I got in my vehicle and as I drove out of the driveway, a red cardinal flew right in front of my vehicle. I knew immediately that God had answered me - I would be cured!

Now for the (more) good news. In April, after being on the protocol for a little more than three months (by the week, I was at 14 weeks), I had an appointment with a doctor who treats lyme and recognizes M. (Thank you Karen!) I did test positive for Lyme and my CD57 was 50. The CD57 is a test for your level of immunity. The range for normal is between 60 -360. However, my doctor likes to see it at 120 or greater. I hate to think of what it was before getting on the protocol. In June (2 months later) the number increased to 64. Although this was an improvement in the right direction, it didn't seem significant to me. Fast forward to August 21, I was tested again. I am now showing no lyme bands for the second time, but I will be tested for this again as this is something that can reappear. But drumroll, my CD57 is 100, only 20 points from what my doctor would like to see!!! I have been feeling so much better, with virtually no symptoms and did not want to be overly optimistic, but the test results confirmed it. I feel I can say I am definitely in the 90% club and can't wait to see my next lab results! I have cried so many tears of happiness!

Thanks be to God, Mel, the protocol, my doctor, my acupuncturist, my family, priest and church family and to all of you in this community for your support, prayers and love. I will continue to pray for you as I hope you will for me, so that we all someday soon can say we are 100% cured!

God Bless you all!

Love,

Donna