When I was about ten years old my mom had fought and won a battle with cancer. It was tough...she had to drive to Denver five days a week the entire summer of 1969 for radiation treatments and topped it off with surgery. The treatments did the job, but also did a lot of damage and she needed surgery several years later to repair that damage. The remaining years of her life until she passed away at the age of 66 in October of 1992, she complained that she hurt. She could never really describe it any better than that. She would just say she hurt. It wasnt a sharp hurt or a dull hurt or a throbbing hurt...it was just a hurt. I never understood how she felt until now. I now suspect my moms pain might not have been from her cancer treatments at all, but was actually chronic pain syndrome just like mine. Mom was very small, like me, and very flexible, also like me. To my surprise I learned ( when I was about eight or nine years old) that she was a pretty good runner, too, and probably would have been even better at it had she been encouraged to do so instead of being a life-long smoker, as was the more common thing to do in rural Wyoming back in the late 30s and early 40s. The only way I know to describe to the Lovely Linda Riggs how I feel most of the time is that I hurt, and I dont know any other way to say it. Luckily, she doesnt require any other explanation and she lets me slide by with just that simple phrase. If my mom was still around and told me today that she hurt, I would just put my arms around her and hold her, get a cup of coffee or a shot of vodka (something else I learned, after she passed away, that she enjoyed) and Id just let her be. If you know somebody who tells you they are in pain or they just dont feel well, and they dont look like they have anything wrong with them, cut them some slack. Chronic pain syndrome doesnt have any outward signs or symptoms. Unless you consider a crabby expression a symptom. :) Soapbox is now closed for the day. :)
Posted on: Wed, 09 Apr 2014 04:13:50 +0000
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