A post about pain and its relative absence. Warning: boring! The last month or so have been an amazing window into the world of Much Less Pain. I would describe my last…. well since 2012 or so… since the ankle blow out and recovery year. several years of having this daily rhythm:
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* waking up: Pain about 7, move around and slowly unstiffen. slept 5 hours if lucky
* morning: coffee! pain at 5 or 6. functioning! or maybe even sharp!
* late afternoon: starting to wane. pain getting worse and I feel fuzzy
* evening: Oh fuck this where are the pain meds… OR…. Kinda OK still at 5 or 6
* bedtime: Oh fuck this where are the pain meds omfg. All the pain meds in the world. Pain at 7 or 8.
Last few months, increasingly so since last year’s surgery,
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* waking up: Just feelin’ ok! I slept 7-8 hours even! Pain like, 4 ish
* morning: coffee! Woo hoo! Full speed ahead! Keen-minded! doing some tai chi! house work in between working! Pain at maybe 3-4, fabulous
afternoon: Some more activity. I feel like I can go up and down the stairs for things. I can go out and do an errand. I can do something frivolous like take BART all the way to some remote station and work from another town’s library! Not to mention, swimming laps! Swimming like 400-900 yards at a time! gardening! feeling the healthy glow of exercise!
* evening: I’m still able to maybe cook some food or do things or even go out
* bedtime: OK the pain is back to a 6 or 7 and I’m smearing voltaren on myself and smoking a little dope but really it’s manageable.
As usual I am posting this because I was in the 2nd happy state for a good long while, maybe since January? But for the last week, I’m in a little more of a “flare up” state where I can’t go swim laps, I’m thinking hard about going up and down stairs to do laundry or go out for errands, Sitting up tires me out, my joints are burning, in the morning, just walking all the way across the (tiny) house seems like a lot. Ankles burning and stiff. Neck and arm on my bad side giving me trouble. Waking up in the night with pain. Work has to be my priority, then housework and doing very easy PT. Scaling back everything.
Sucks….
Perhaps I just overdid things because I felt so good. Or maybe it’s just chance. But, I’m bouncing back and determined to keep doing all my PT and strengthening exercises.
Goal, tomorrow go to the pool and don’t try to swim laps, just gently float around in the shallow end.
I feel super hopeful and not too upset about it – because I feel just *stronger* all around for all the exercise and activity.