Thought I Had Lyme Disease - Now We Don't Know - Still Have a 2-Year-old!!

My son is occupied for hours in the sand box. He also will play with play dough for extended periods of time.

As for a new recipe, I love to make plain white rice and mix it with a can of black beans and salsa. I then add grilled chicken to it. It's tasty and pretty healthy for you. I also find it quick and easy.

I always enjoy breakfast for dinner. Sometimes we have an egg and place it on an English Muffin with melted cheese.

You can buy premade pesto and add it to pasta. You can also mix in some green peas.

My oldest daughter was just diagnosed with Lyme last week.

My favorite thing to cook in is my crock pot. My family loves pulled pork so I throw a pork roast in along with some bbq sauce, cook it to death, pull it apart with a couple forks, add more bbq sauce and serve.

I'm sorry to hear you are still not feeling well! I hope your doctors are able to solve the mystery soon.

As far as fun activities, it's still nice outside, so you can let your little one run in sprinklers or play in a baby pool. I have a small water table that my son loves to play in. Sometimes I fill it up with just plain water, other times I'll put bubble bath in the water so he can play with the bubbles. I also occasionally use food dye to make the water red or blue. He loves it, and it gives you time to sit and relax in the warm weather. Sidewalk chalk is also great fun. I draw roads and train tracks for my son to "drive" his cars and trains through, and he plays for hours.

I have a very easy recipe for the crockpot that I use whenever I need to have a fast dinner because of activities in the evening. Take a beef roast (2-3 pounds is what my husband, son and I usually eat with some for leftovers the next day) and put it into the crock pot. Add a can/bottle of beer and a package of onion soup mix. Turn on the crock pot in the morning on low and let it simmer all day. About an hour before serving, cut up a few potatoes and drop them into the crock pot. Once the potatoes are cooked, you have delicious pot roast for your family to enjoy. By the way, the potatoes are optional if your husband isn't around to help you cut them (I don't want to have you hurting any more than you already are!).

Lastly, is it possible to find a mother's helper (high school student, perhaps?) to assist you during an afternoon or two and give you a break? I did that for several families when I was in high school - I would watch their kids for a few hours after school and give their mom some time to run errands and take care of household things without worrying about the kids. Or maybe reach out to your church or neighborhood association? It sounds like you could use a helping hand, and I imagine there are people around who would love to lend some support.

My best to you.

This may sound strange - but have you thought about getting yourself tested for heavy metals (lead, mercury, etc) - they are everywhere and many people are full of them. It is 'alternative' and most docs don't really go that route. But - heavy metal toxicity is being linked to MS, RA, many things that people deal with and take drugs for, but don't really feel better. I have heard stories from people who get the metals removed and detox their bodies and feel so much better after from various things.

You may also benefit from a diet overhaul - try taking away gluten (it's really hard to do) and go for as much raw food as possible. If you go to mercola.com - his home page is full of different articles - but there should be a search spot - type in "pain" and see what comes up. If you click on an article - a list of topics comes up on the left side of the screen and you can narrow down a search that way also (chronic fatigue, pain management, etc)

Getting vitamin D (from the sun) may help also - go outdoors - NO sunscreen - between the hours of 10-2 - depends how dark you are - I'm pretty fair - 15-20 mins is all I should really need - someone with extremely dark skin may need 1-1.5 hours. It helps genterate so many good things for our bodies and can actually have harmful side effects from avoiding the sun. I am very into more natural things and the more I learn - the more lean toward holistic, natural, and alternative.

I don't have much for you for your child during this time - but - keep looking at different things - you may feel better following diet change - checking metals - mercola.com even has a article right now on the home page about cell phone dangers and leads into many electronic things that affect health and well being - who knows!

Good luck - I hope you feel better soon and that your son fares well too!!

hi, i am so sorry for what you are going through, it must be so hard. for your son, i would recommend looking towards activities that are open ended, things that are limited only by his imagination, and certainly things that are very safe so you dont feel like you have to be on top of him all the time. things like blocks, magnatiles, train sets, an art table, a workbench, a play kitchen (boys love them too, just dont get a pink one...) big lego, stuff like that. ditto for outside, sidewalk chalk, bubbles, a water table is great, one of those little play houses. check out the step 2 website, we just splurged on a whole bunch of stuff for the kids, we got a kitchen, an art center, a science center, a workbench, i made them a dress up center in a corner of the basement just by hanging up a cool curtain and putting their various costumes, hats etc in there. we got one of those houses for outside, and a little picnic table that they do the messy crafts on, etc. is there a teenager in your neigborhood that you can pay to come over and play for a few hours? you are still there watching, but you can put your feet up for a while. as for cooking, use peapod to order delivery, its sooooo worth the few $$, probably cheaper with gas prices now! buy things that are already cut up, baby carrots, new potatoes, that big fat jar of peeled garlic, frozen veggies, etc, and experiment with the crockpot. you can throw pretty much any meat in there with the veggies, obviously a roast, but also pork chops come out great. use chopped meat/turkey/chicken and make chili, fry up the meat and throw it in there with canned beans and brown rice, diced/stewed/whatever tomatoes and whatever frozen veggies you like, so easy and very healthy, and leftovers are great too, you can put a big spoonful in a bowl with a slice of lowfat cheese on top and nuke it for lunch, yummy. hmmm, i think im making it tomorrow! i wish you the best and i hope you get to the bottom of this and feel better soon. take care, D.