Contest Entry: My Renewable Source of Energy
This month we had a contest and asked some of our readers, members and volunteers to write a creative peice about What has BYDLS and “the spoon theory” meant to you?
The short essay was written by Linda C. Defew
My Renewable Source of Energy
Rheumatoid Arthritis started out like a ghost—invisible to the ordinary observer. The doctors didn’t want to give it a name just yet although they would treat it like RA. I didn’t want to give it a name either. I had watched my grandfather’s hands cripple beyond repair from the debilitating disease. Maybe if my symptoms remained undiagnosed it would go away. Instead, it raged on despite the latest medications and a world of natural remedies. I would spend the next 20 years learning the meaning of spoons. Use them sparingly, I thought. They have to last all day.
So, in time, I learned to put up with the pain, but being tired all the time was hard. Like most chronic illness, by the end of the day, I was completely exhausted, barely able to get myself ready for bed. Even though I started out with a hand full of spoons, I had used each one for all it was worth. My hands were empty, my energy depleted. How would I ever face the next day? But, when the sun came up the next morning, I was always surprised to find I had a brand new supply of shiny spoons. Like a recharged battery, God had given me what I needed to meet my daily challenges once again.
