Pain is a Pain

Pain

Pain, I know it exists for a reason, just wish it were easier to control. Grace has chronic, constant pain. She has for a few years. Her doctor is determined to figure out the cause and wants to cure the problem. That's exactly what Grace wants, but in the long time it's taking to figure out the mystery she's still in pain. Some days are worse than others, some days she stays in bed. Pain is frustrating.

One of the biggest problems with pain is controlling it, narcotics are really the only thing that seems to dull the pain enough for Grace to function on her worse days. Of course we all know the dangers of prolonged narcotic usage. Again, frustrating.

Another aspect to pain is the lie. The lie the person in pain has to live. They still have work, school, walking to the mailbox, just getting up out of bed. They have to paint on a smile and go about their business as if they're perfectly fine. Now I know no one actually wants to tell the world " Hey!! Today is a crap day!!" but it also has to be hard to pretend that everything is just fine. Most people would never guess that Grace is in pain, when she has mentioned to some people that she's hurting they've said she should go to a doctor. Really? That's a genuine idea, she's never considered. She's been going for at least three years complaining to them about her pain, she's had to wait months for bone scans that didn't show the doctor the area that she wanted to see. She's also waited six months to get into some doctor's offices. And waited to find out she's been refused an appointment with a pain specialist. It's not as if the doctor is just going to know what the problem is and have a quick fix. Pain is frustrating.

None of us know when another is hurting. We need to cut other some slack. There aren't always answers, but possibly a smile could make a painful day better.