What Does LD Mean?

LD

As I write those letters, many different things might come to mind for each of us depending on what is going on in our lives at this very moment.  Here are just a few…

For many of us this past weekend, LD meant LABOR DAY, an extra day of rest, family and the last “official” day of summer.

For others, LD this past weekend meant LAUNDRY DAY, a great day to get caught up!

For thousands of husbands and wives right now, LD means LOVE DARE, the daily challenge they are committed to as they try to put their failing marriages back together.

For some of my very pregnant friends in this staggering, August heat, LD means one thing and one thing only, LABOR & DELIVERY, and it can’t get here soon enough!!!

For the “Love of My Life,” LD stands for “LATER DUDE,” the words he would say to any boy who asks for permission to date one of our precious daughters before they turn 35, appropriate dating age according to him!

And for every one of us on any given work or school day, LD can mean LOOOONG DAY and needs no further explanation!

But 7 months ago, LD began to mean something entirely different and very unfamiliar to our family as I was diagnosed with the advanced stages of chronic LYME DISEASE, and just two months later it was confirmed that I had given the disease to both of my girls when I too carried them during the long, hot, summer months and counted the days until LD-LABOR & DELIVERY.  So needless to say, over the last several months with 3 of the 4 members of our family having Lyme Disease, LD has become the topic of almost every conversation, the focus of every day to study and learn as much as possible about this very unfamiliar disease and the reason life, as we know it, has been turned completely upside down.

Almost everyone who finds out what we are battling says, “What exactly is Lyme Disease?”  To which I share what I have learned, but by no means do I claim to be a doctor or an expert.  LD is a caused by bacteria that was transmitted to my body through a tick bite.  We know that it must have occurred when I was in high school because that is when I first remember getting sooooo sick for months and months and being diagnosed with everything from mono to chronic fatigue to depression.  Because I did not have a rash that would alert the doctors to the possibility of Lyme Disease and because there is so much controversy over if Lyme Disease even exists in the South (to which I say, “What?  We think the deer that carry these ticks that are recognized as the cause of thousands of LD cases in the Northeast stop at the Mason Dixon Line?!?!  But don’t get me startedJ), the harmful bacteria have been growing in my body unrecognized for some 15+ years (LD means LATER DUDE, if you thought I was going to give the exact number!).  During this time, the bacteria has been multiplying, burrowing and hiding in my tissue, attacking my immune system and my organ systems one at a time, and even was transmitted through the placenta to each of my babies.

Lyme Disease is a debilitating disease in which patients look perfectly well on the outside but are wasting away on the inside, are being misdiagnosed, are in extreme amounts of pain and are in need of the medical community and insurance companies to recognize, test for and treat this wicked disease.

Treatment for LD is long and hard as the bacteria is able to hide from medicine and actually “fights back” by emitting toxins in the body that make patients even sicker before they can get better.   This extensive treatment includes:  medication, detoxing, immune boosting, a strict, clean diet and rest, rest, rest.  So needless to say, since all three of us are in the middle of Round 3 of LD treatment, you understand why most days LD stands for LOOOOONG DAY to us!

However, about one month after hearing from my new doctor, “You have one of the worst cases of Lyme Disease I’ve seen!” and receiving texts and emails referring to my illness as LD (the abbreviation for texting and writing), LD began to mean something entirely different to me after I read this verse in Psalm 34:19…

 “A righteous man (woman) may have many troubles, but the LORD DELIVERS him (her) from them all.”

It seemed to jump off the page at me because I thought, “Right now, I do have many troubles.”  So that very day I began to pray the second part of this verse, “LORD, DELIVER Me!”  After receiving further diagnoses, my prayer began to include, “LORD, DELIVER Me and My Oldest Child and My “Baby” Daughter.”  Over these last several months it has grown to, “Please LORD, DELIVER Me and My Oldest Child and My “Baby” Daughter and Kelly and Scott and Melanie and Jack and my new friend in Oklahoma and young Sam and MB’s son in Memphis and the teenage girl in my daughter’s class and her mom and her sister and everyone who sat around the tables at our first support group meeting last week and on and on and on…”

LD-LORD DELIVER…

the cry of my heart, the name of this blog and

the promise from God that I continue to hold onto!!!