Recently Diagnosed - Seeking advice

Hi All,

I was diagnosed with what my internist called "advanced lyme" this week after several years of poor health with seemingly random symptoms. She reports that I tested positive for both the igg and igm tests and I am on a two to four week regimin of antibiotics (amoxicilin).

I have been lucky in that my symptoms have not been severe as many report in forums online. I just started having fatigue and getting sick all the time starting around 2009-2010, and in late 2011, got facial palsey. I also had lots of seemly random aches/pains in my knees and was starting to feel crazy (my g/f says I've been slowly becoming bipolar), but I thought the anxiety/depression was just because I was sick and its hard to be happy when you just don't feel well...I am a tough person so I have kept working through it all and just stopped having a social life LOL. So now I am on these antibiotics and my doctor says that I should be okay, and that my face my actual recover a bit now too (although at 18 months it may be a little late for that).

I am wondering a couple things that I though someone here might be able to help me out with an answer:

1. Is there anyway to tell when I contracted the lyme? I regularly go camping but never had any rashes or ticks that I noticed. It has been so long I can't pinpoint any specifically bad colds/flus, I've just had too many. All my dr said is that she knows its longer than a few weeks/months because both the antibody tests came back positive. I assume that it must go back before my facial paralysis in 2011 for a minimum, and probably way before that for it to have infiltrated my neuro system...

2. Should I expect to be well after the antibiotic treatment? Or is it likely that I will continue experiencing lyme symptoms? I am confused by the info. online - many say yes you will be cured forever but obviously there is a huge community of ppl who still experience symptoms. Help!

3. Should I try to get linked up with a LLMD? I am so grateful to my new internist who finally caught this! A really good dr but she is not a specialist and I am concerned that following the CDC protocols may not fully cure me. If so, can you recommend someone good in NYC where I am based.

4. Finally, I am scheduled to have knee surgery next week to repair a torn meniscus and its resulting cyst in the medial side of my right knee. My doctors (intern and surgeon) both say I should go ahead with the surgery, but what do you think? Do you think A. That the surgery could affect my chances of recovery from Lyme or B. That my knee might not recover as well due to the Lyme? Curious to hear your thoughts...

All help and input would be much appreciated.
It funny, I had pretty much given up on being well and accepted it when the doctors told me it was all in my head, but now with the diagnosis I have some hope to getting back to leading my normal life again. And hope, is a good/bad/scary thing right now...
Thanks very much!

Bev