Say Uncle



I have a very high pain threshold. That was a good thing in my childhood when I was having "Say Uncle" fights with my sadistic brother. And in my very athletic youth it probably saved me from an addiction to pain meds. Following my ski accident it saved me from melting my liver or ruining my kidneys with NCIDs.

 But I had a kidney stone for a year and a half and never convinced anyone I was in pain until I passed out at the civic light opera performance. My nurse sister, who also has a high pain threshold, tells me I should learn to yell and scream and roll on the floor more. But I just refuse to act like a whiny girl. Cowgirls don't cry. You get up, dust yourself off, and get back on the horse.

 Recovery from my various injuries incurred as a victim of a hit and run on the ski slope (actually he didn't run but it sounds so dramatic) I became very acquainted with pain scale charts. Though I had a very hard time identifying with the numbers. The smiley faces help though if I am at 10 I will walk into the doctor's office and give him the level two face.



Pain level identification is further complicated with me by the fact I don't believe in absolutes. I will always doubt if it is the Worst Pain Possible. At max I will admit to medical professionals that it Hurts Even More. To myself I get to Hurts a Whole Lot. My pain management doctor for the three compressed discs in my neck said I was my own worst enemy. I blame years of no pain/no gain, the show must go on, get back on the horse, work it out, and force marches out of wilderness areas.

 I am a survivor. And living this long has finally taught me some wisdom. That and Google. And if it is a flare up of an old injury such as my shoulder I have all the previous physical therapy and treatment options. Though to be totally honest I have to get to Hurts Even More before I admit I need to take notice. First step is to modify activities or at least triage them on a most important to least scale. But the Hurts Less (not on the pain measurement official scale) gets me in trouble. See previous paragraph about being my own worst enemy. But at last I finally know that. And a lot of that indoctrination list works for me if applied correctly i.e. not to an extreme.

 Oh, and so why the yucca photograph at the top of this blog? Falling into one on a hike was the Hurts Worst until I stumbled into a Teddy Bear Cholla and ergo now believe there is always something which will hurt more -- like removing the Teddy Bear Cholla hooked barbs.

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