Chronic Pain
NCPOA :: National Chronic Pain Outreach Association: "A church organist is asked to stay at her bench during the entire service, despite chronic arthritis pain. The same church provides an interpreter for the deaf, and wheelchair ramps for the disabled. It also allows a pregnant organist to move about the church freely to ease her back.
A woman with chronic back, hip, and leg pain is publicly upbraided by a stranger for parking in a handicapped spot, even though she has handicapped plates on her car.
A male moviegoer, standing in the back of the theatre to ease his aching back, is asked insistently to take his seat by the usher.
A pain patient's parents tell her to quit acting like a baby. 'Where's the blood running out?' her mother asks her.
An anesthesiologist is suspected of angling for a disability when colleagues hear he is suffering from chronic neck pain due to a whiplash injury.
What do these scenarios have in common? They are all vivid, real life examples of the stigma of chronic pain."
It's been a while since I've written. The weekend before last as K was taking us out to eat, a lady didn't even see her red light and shot through it, hitting my car door. Although our car was quite a bit bigger than hers (after the last accident, I really don't care for small cars), she hit us hard enough to send our car into the air and on the curb about 15 feet away. I'm guessing that she didn't see her red light since she came up to us trying to tell us that the light was green. Luckily, a gentleman on her side of the street saw the whole thing so it's documented that she drove through the light.
K says that I screamed, "NOOOOO!!!" as we got hit. I don't remember screaming, but I remember seeing a car right next to me and realizing that she was going to hit us and not being scared about it, I was furious instead. What is it with people not paying attention to red lights? If it hadn't been for a semi-truck ignoring a red light, the last 4 years of my life would be totally different. No more trying to find a pain medication that I'm not allergic to and that works for me, no more constantly looking over my shoulder whenever I'm in the car, and being terrified when a truck gets too close. No more headaches and dizzy spells, back spasms, walking with a limp (and with a cane now), being sent from doctor to doctor as they try to figure out a better diagnosis than chronic lower back problems. Do I sound frustrated?
K seemed to come out of it with just a couple cuts and sore ribs, but for the last few days he's been complaining of his back too, so we really need to both get checked out by a reputiable doctor (there seems to be a dirth of them here). J enjoyed the ride while the car was in the air and didn't get fussy until they moved him where he couldn't see me while the EMS took care of me. I ended up going to the hospital on a backboard. NOT a fun way to travel when you're hurting. Especially when the roads are full of potholes. Ouch, ouch, ouch. After a bunch of x-rays and a CAT scan, I was pronounced okay to go home, and taken to see K and J. They were in another room, waiting to see a doctor - 6 hours after we'd gotten to the hospital! They both had quick check-overs and then we were all released to go home.
One good thing that's come out of this is that K finally agrees with me that our current doctor is basically just a quack. Okay, maybe that's not fair to quacks. :-P We went in to get checked over and I told him a couple problems that I was having. He just looked at me and said, "What do you want me to do?" He listened to my heart, fussed about the fact that I was walking with a cane and asked me if it was for support. Why is it that sometimes you just can't think of a smart answer when you need one? K said I should have told him "No, it's to beat up doctors who ask stupid questions." I'd asked him for one 3 years before and he put me off, afraid I'd get dependent on it. On a cane...when I really can't walk across a parking lot without having something for support or the pain starts really getting to me. So, I asked my neurologist...which come to think of it, might be another part of the reason he seemed upset with us. He told me not long after I'd first come to him that I really should see a neurologist but he was going to send me to a pain management doctor instead. Seriously. So I finally made an appointment with a neurologist on my own and maybe he's upset with that. Who knows. What I do know is that it's time to find a doctor. A doctor who will actually help me get better instead of fighting me every step of the way.
A woman with chronic back, hip, and leg pain is publicly upbraided by a stranger for parking in a handicapped spot, even though she has handicapped plates on her car.
A male moviegoer, standing in the back of the theatre to ease his aching back, is asked insistently to take his seat by the usher.
A pain patient's parents tell her to quit acting like a baby. 'Where's the blood running out?' her mother asks her.
An anesthesiologist is suspected of angling for a disability when colleagues hear he is suffering from chronic neck pain due to a whiplash injury.
What do these scenarios have in common? They are all vivid, real life examples of the stigma of chronic pain."
It's been a while since I've written. The weekend before last as K was taking us out to eat, a lady didn't even see her red light and shot through it, hitting my car door. Although our car was quite a bit bigger than hers (after the last accident, I really don't care for small cars), she hit us hard enough to send our car into the air and on the curb about 15 feet away. I'm guessing that she didn't see her red light since she came up to us trying to tell us that the light was green. Luckily, a gentleman on her side of the street saw the whole thing so it's documented that she drove through the light.
K says that I screamed, "NOOOOO!!!" as we got hit. I don't remember screaming, but I remember seeing a car right next to me and realizing that she was going to hit us and not being scared about it, I was furious instead. What is it with people not paying attention to red lights? If it hadn't been for a semi-truck ignoring a red light, the last 4 years of my life would be totally different. No more trying to find a pain medication that I'm not allergic to and that works for me, no more constantly looking over my shoulder whenever I'm in the car, and being terrified when a truck gets too close. No more headaches and dizzy spells, back spasms, walking with a limp (and with a cane now), being sent from doctor to doctor as they try to figure out a better diagnosis than chronic lower back problems. Do I sound frustrated?
K seemed to come out of it with just a couple cuts and sore ribs, but for the last few days he's been complaining of his back too, so we really need to both get checked out by a reputiable doctor (there seems to be a dirth of them here). J enjoyed the ride while the car was in the air and didn't get fussy until they moved him where he couldn't see me while the EMS took care of me. I ended up going to the hospital on a backboard. NOT a fun way to travel when you're hurting. Especially when the roads are full of potholes. Ouch, ouch, ouch. After a bunch of x-rays and a CAT scan, I was pronounced okay to go home, and taken to see K and J. They were in another room, waiting to see a doctor - 6 hours after we'd gotten to the hospital! They both had quick check-overs and then we were all released to go home.
One good thing that's come out of this is that K finally agrees with me that our current doctor is basically just a quack. Okay, maybe that's not fair to quacks. :-P We went in to get checked over and I told him a couple problems that I was having. He just looked at me and said, "What do you want me to do?" He listened to my heart, fussed about the fact that I was walking with a cane and asked me if it was for support. Why is it that sometimes you just can't think of a smart answer when you need one? K said I should have told him "No, it's to beat up doctors who ask stupid questions." I'd asked him for one 3 years before and he put me off, afraid I'd get dependent on it. On a cane...when I really can't walk across a parking lot without having something for support or the pain starts really getting to me. So, I asked my neurologist...which come to think of it, might be another part of the reason he seemed upset with us. He told me not long after I'd first come to him that I really should see a neurologist but he was going to send me to a pain management doctor instead. Seriously. So I finally made an appointment with a neurologist on my own and maybe he's upset with that. Who knows. What I do know is that it's time to find a doctor. A doctor who will actually help me get better instead of fighting me every step of the way.
posted by Teeg | 9:59 AM
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