
the book


Sit Down Before Reading by Dave Bexfield is a memoir unfolding in real time. New chapters and/or audio files are released on Wednesdays when available. Due to research demands, production requirements, and essential husband duties too-often shirked, installments may be delayed. Readers can expect the finished book to have four parts. Or maybe five.

CHAPTER 19
The Writing is on the Wall
The writing is on the wall, and it couldn’t be any clearer. Yes, I am sure-sure that I have Lyme disease—despite being diagnosed 17 years ago with “clinically definite” multiple sclerosis. And yes, the gains after taking antibiotics are real. Really, really real.
6 min read

CHAPTER 20
Clear Eyes, Open Heart
I was struggling to keep lofty expectations in check. I wanted to soar skyward, lift above the clouds. But after months of failing to get appropriate treatment for my Lyme disease, it was hard not to get demoralized. Then an unusual opportunity presented itself.
8 min read

CHAPTER 21
An Improbable Proposal
Desperate times called for desperate measures. Despite trying for months to find a doctor to treat my Lyme disease, all outreach had been rebuffed. I had to let every arrow fly and think outside the box, outside the state, and outside the realm of probability.
9 min read

CHAPTER 28
Hidden in Plain Sight
For decades researchers have struggled to conclusively prove that a latitude gradient exists when it comes to the prevalence of MS—the farther from the equator, the greater the risk of developing the disease. If only they had enlisted the assistance of a 5th grader.
13 min read

CHAPTER 29
Fail Better
In medicine, barring an outright cure, researchers ultimately will face failure. If scientists keep trying and fail a little less with each attempt, that’s progress. But what if the answer lies not tucked away in the incremental successes, but buried deeply within those failures?
11 min read

CHAPTER 30
Denial of Care
Chronic illness can overrun the strongest of bulwarks, dooming the tightest of relationships—and the waves were breaching our fortifications. Survival was no longer a given. Desperate times called for equally desperate measures.
13 min read