Randy Sacia knew he was in trouble last July 2nd while celebrating his wedding anniversary in the back yard.

He didn't have a clue how bad it would get.

Sacia and his wife, Laurie, were going to make a little campfire down the back slope by the creek. Sacia, 48, bent over to pick up two pieces of wood and shooting pains ran through his hands. Back in the house, he crossed his arms in front of his chest and he couldn't stand the pain.

The episode was followed by excruciating pains in his ankles and knees and two days later, a fever of 104.3 degrees.
His wife took him to the emergency room in LaCrosse, where they drew blood and tested for Lyme disease. Sacia, Galesville's police chief, got worse. Laurie saw the symptoms developing.

"I could tell he was having a hard time getting in and out of the squad car," she said. "Every day it was like he would wither before my eyes."

Repeated visits to the doctor for more tests didn't help.
Sacia lost his appetite; when he did eat, he said everything tasted like garlic. A dedicated weight lifter, he shrunk from 190 pounds to 138. His body was put through a three month ordeal that included shooting pains in all his joints, debilitating weakness and spirit pushed to the breaking point. Sometimes he could hardly stand. At one point, he suffered such delirium that he didn't know who he was. And at times, it felt as though there were crushed glass under his skin.

"I felt we were going to lose him," his mother said. "Even the hospital called him their big mystery. He was seeing things. He was in another world, seeing bugs and people who weren't there. You had to be there to believe it."

Friends who visited Sacia were brought to tears.

"To see a friend of yours like that, almost like a second son, it brought tears to my eyes," said his friend Don Bautch. "Friends of his came to visit him and came away bawling."

"I only knew he was sick and nobody knew what was going on," said Sacia's friend, Trempealeau County Sheriff Andrew Sheldon. "I remember one time he didn't have the strength to open a bottle of pop and his hands were shaking."

In late July, a blood test was taken at the Galesville Clinic indicated Lyme disease. Sacia had suspected Lyme because his dog, Courtney, had been diagnosed with the disease in July. With treatment, her condition improved within 24 hours.

Sacia was taken to the hospital and put on IV antibiotics for four days. But even with IV's administered at home, his condition didn't improve. He couldn't sleep, was so weak he could barely whisper, suffered cold sweats and, in the fetal position, wracked by pain, he rocked back and forth into the night.

One night in late August, the pains stopped. But the ordeal was far from over.

When his ankles became inflamed and swollen, Sacia had another four day hospital stay followed by IV's of anti-inflammatory medicine at home. The severe pains were gone, but the weakness and dehydration continued until a blood clot near his knee caused his entire leg to swell up. Blood thinners and other treatment slowly brought Sacia back to the point where he could eat normally and gain some weight.

A 28 year veteran of the Galesville Police Department, Sacia is a fixture in the community, familiar to just about everyone. When he got sick, Bautch said the community rallied behind him.

"Galesville backed him 100 percent," said Bev Sacia. "When the mayor came to see him, he told him not to worry about his job. If it wasn't for the caring people and friends being there for him, he wouldn't be here."

He returned to work for light duty in November and slowly built his stamina. Last week, he weighed in at 160 pounds and said he was close to full strength.

"At night I would be that he would get better and he did," Laurie said.

by David Krotz, Winona Daily News