Ups and downs

I hope you bear with me as I try to find my "voice" writing this blog. What I hear in my head doesn't seem to jump to the paper very easily and even when I do get my notes transcribed, it is hard to edit them to convey what I hoped to say.

I was taking Astra out in the cold 6 a.m., late winter weather which feels bracing today. The morning reminded me of the cold trips to the car to go to work. The winter cold was never thought provoking on those mornings.  However, after coming in, I become aware of the usual morning pain and difficulty moving. However, for a few moments I was back in my old life, the one with no limits.

A difficulty with chronic pain is that the affected person develops the anticipation of further pain. On the other hand a person with acute pain may also anticipate further pain but they are not faced with the reality that their life has changed forever.

People with chronic pain or disability remember all of the activities, pleasures, goals, and potential they had in their prior life. Now they are forced to remember that some parts of their life is in the past and is no longer obtainable. This doesn't mean we are not able to have pleasure and achieve many of our goals but now have to plan around our pain and limitations. We might also have to search deep to find new wishes and goals.

A person who has acute pain knows that they will have pain again but they are able to tolerate it easier because they believe that they will be “good as new” at some point. A person with chronic pain, chronic illness, or even those dealing with effects of aging cannot hold on to that belief.

I hope to give you resources that might be helpful in dealing with these issues and others but hope that you will contribute with your questions, requests for clarification of a topic, and offer other resources.

Have a peace filled day.