And now a word from our intrepid explorer…
I’ve been quiet the last couple of days due to some health issues involving an abcessed tooth, hence the reason there’s been a shortage of geeky blatherings of late. Through the magic of Amoxicilin and liberal use of Tylenol, I’m back to almost human again, though there’s a long road of further dental work ahead.
I’d like to take a moment to talk about pain though.
I’ve never had direct experience with chronic pain. The sort of pain that is omnipresent, and can never really be ignored. The last 3 days though have given me a glimpse of what it’s like. Even with vast doses of Tylenol, the ache is always there, and I can tell within minutes when it’s time to re-dose.
On the one hand, I can generally deal with pain on a point by point basis. “This is going to hurt” “Okay.” What I can’t deal with is the constant, wavering hurt that never goes away. The worst part of it is it completely destroyed any attempts at concentration. I couldn’t latch onto a concept for more than a few minutes before being distracted or whiny. For someone like me who is VERY active mentally, this was horrifying. My pain level was waffling between “Ow” and “I want to curl up in a ball and whimper”. I hated every minute of it.
Now I’m back on something approaching functionality, and there is a sigh of relief heard in the land. Not only from me but from other important folks in my life, who have had to deal with me being far wiftier than I am even on my worst days.
Thanks for everyone for their patience. We now return you to your previously scheduled life, already in progress.
About Dave Shevett
A wandering geek. Toys, shiny things, pursuits and distractions.
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For what it’s worth, I have exactly the same experience of acute and chronic pain; acute pain is no problem (well, basically), and chronic pain I just can’t deal with, for pretty much the same reasons as you. Makes me in awe of sometimes; she’s almost always in some level of pain.
I’m glad you’re feeling better now! That sounds awful.
it’s a barrel of fun, eh?
Next, imagine the difference between “my tooth is hurting for a few days, but i know worst case i will get the thing pulled and it will stop hurting within a week” and CHRONIC pain, when you know full well it might go on for the rest of your life.
What bonnie said.
(Glad you’re feeling better, though.)
Me too. Fortunately chronic pain has been a rarity for me so far, but I do think about the potential for longer spells of it as I age gracelessly. Interestingly, I lost half a tooth yesterday afternoon while eating toast. It had been worked on extensively and was dead, so no pain, but I’m not looking forward to the dental work. It doesn’t, ow, hurt, ow, at all, ow, mommy, please, ow, don’t take, ow, me to the , ow, dentist. 🙂 Glad to hear you have the pain under control.
Do you remember any pain from when you had the hernia? I remember you being so sick and in the hospital so much when you were little, but I barely remember my broken leg, so maybe not..
I sure remember you screaming in the bathtub when you were having convulsions, or was that from moms ice water bath cure?