About Me

Hello everyone, and welcome to my first blog! My name is Jocelyn Hykes, (that’s pronounced Hi-Kiss) and I am 24 years old living in the Youngstown, Ohio area. If you’re unfamiliar with where that is, it is the halfway point between Cleveland and Pittsburgh.

Some things I love are: elephants, country music, photography, baking, the color orange, nail polish, sunshine, summertime, riding my bike, sidewalk chalk, traveling and Christmas. My favorite band is Shinedown, my favorite food used to be pizza, but now it’s probably sushi or anything with veggies and rice. I love Disney movies and could rewatch any episode of Friends. I also loved Cleveland sports before 2019, go Browns!

I am the oldest of four children, and my siblings and I are all very close. I have a 22 year old sister, Jensen, a 20 year old brother, Hunter, and an 18 year old brother, Trevor. I have come to find that our sibling relationship with each other is very unique and crazy fun. My parents are Jenn and Ted, and they have been happily married for going on 32 years now. They’ve been an excellent example of what love and family should be, how to get through tough times and how to get the most out of your life. We were always taught, “nothing worth having comes easy,” and that if you work hard, you will achieve your goals. Family is a huge piece of my life, and without them, would not be the same.

I am lucky enough to have found a love, similar to my parents’ example. Ironically, his name is also Hunter (just like my brother) and we met working at a Dairy Queen while we were in college. Since I have met Hunter, he has been my rock and my constant reminder that there is a God, (higher power, whatever you want to believe in), but to me it’s God. As I get this blog up and rolling, you will be seeing a lot of Hunter because he has helped me through so so much in the two years we have been together.

I am fortunate enough to say that I have a Bachelor’s Degree in Communication with a minor in Public Relations from Kent State University. If you don’t know where that is – Google May 4, 1970 and you will learn a lot (if you haven’t already in any history class). I LOVED Kent State. The campus, the people, the relationships and the memories I created there. I can easily say, those were the best four years of my life. I’d go back to college again, if I could, and do it all again.

Some of the things you can expect to see in this blog are: my family, my boyfriend, my experience in dealing with Lyme disease (which will be the bulk of it), diet-friendly foods, travel experience, work experience, life moments and anything else that is relevant to how I am living my life with a chronic illness.

This blog is meant to be a POSITIVE PLACE ONLY. While pieces of my story are unfortunate and sad, my life has turned around in so many aspects because of my diagnosis. While I wouldn’t wish this on anyone, I am willing to share some of my coping mechanisms, tips and tricks, good food, how I am healing, detoxing, getting back to normal and everyday life experiences. It is possible to get back to a normal life even though you have Lyme disease. I didn’t want to believe this while I was first dealing with my symptoms, but the first thing you have to acknowledge is – attitude is everything.

If you have any feedback, questions, comments or concerns from my posts, please feel free to contact me. I would love to talk! I am so excited to share with all of you stories from my Lyme life!