Pain – The Final Frontier!

Surface of the Sun

AAAGGGGHHHHH!!

So you know my dog Little Monkey pulled me off my feet many weeks ago?

Well, I was doing reasonably OK till I tried weeding some of my rose beds. After only half an hour my shoulder was screaming at me.

And then LM wrenched my right arm again when a 5 month old labrador puppy came charging down the road running straight at us; no lead, no owner!

Note to self: In future, hold LM’s lead in my left hand on dog walks!!

Since then my right shoulder had been killing me. The pain was constant and there was no position to put my arm in that relieved it. The pain radiated down my arm towards my wrist in an excruciating ache. It kept me awake night after night. Rotator Cuff Injury.

Finally, gradually, the pain lessened and I regained mobility of my shoulder.

Then I did my right wrist in! I thought at the time I must have slept on it awkwardly (or practised kung fu in my sleep as Little Monkey suggested!) In retrospect, I think it was again Repetitive Strain Injury; from tearing up old papers during our 10 hours of power cuts.

That had only just recovered when I hurt my right upper arm. This time I impaled myself on a shelf in a shop, while looking at handbags. I got a large purple bruise and swelling at the time, but a day or two later I could barely move my arm without extreme pain. Again, many sleepless nights in agony. This is only just starting to go away.

in the early stages of an injury I use RICE (Rest Ice Compression Elevation) and after a day or two, a hot water bottle. I am becoming extremely adept at doing things one handed, left handed, but it is still difficult to perform even the most basic of tasks, such as getting dressed, brushing your hair or making a cup of coffee.

Like most people I have things wrong with me most of the time. I have gammy feet (orthotics), recurrent back problems (slipped disc) and my knees are particularly unreliable (chondromalacia patella) giving me Balloon Knee out of the blue at my daughter’s wedding in June. And what wedding guests may have mistaken as an expression of the solemnity of the occasion on my face, was actually extreme pain in one knee and trying to stand with all my weight on the other, weaker knee!

I have the greatest empathy for those with unrelieved chronic pain. I follow quite a few blogs written by people in chronic pain; I don’t know how they manage. My Dad was a chronic pain sufferer, with 2 slipped discs and constant back pain, but still a very charismatic and cheerful person.

I am pretty stoic when it comes to pain, but when you add something new it is exhausting.

What about pain killers?

What about them? Great if they work for you!

However, OTC pain meds do very little. I take something strong and wait 90 mins, when it might take the edge off the pain for maybe 30 mins and that’s it.

So what do I do?

Wait till 5 pm then –

Thank goodness for vodka!!!

 

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