Pain Signals and Other Bad Language

I live in constant pain due to incidents: one was when two screws were removed from a toilet pan in a pub restaurant – I fell off it and injured my knee. One enlightened consultant said that the nerve was damaged, but his replacement just said it was arthritis. It takes me up to 30 minutes in the morning to get my leg to straighten … so I use the time to search Pinterest, and Ravelry, and You Tube. I also have spina bifida occulta which causes pain since I fell downstairs when I was 17. I even had to spend a month in hospital on traction when my spine seized up. Good time to catch up on reading. Friends tell me to get an automatic car but using a clutch keeps my knee moving.

Pain ‘relief’ that I’m prescribed is Co-codamol 30/500, Gabapentin, Tramadol, and Naproxin. However, where I live has sparse public transport as well as the fact that my son cannot travel by bus due to his epilepsy, so a car is essential. If I take the medications I risk falling foul of the drink/drug laws should an accident occur. So I don’t take them. Also, my new GP told me to ‘lose’ the crutches as much as possible, and a stick makes walking so much easier. The mobility scooter also helps me get out and about.

The best pain relief I’ve found is to focus on something else. I’m 70 at Christmas so I decided it’s time to start a new career – I’ve founded my own company based on my passion: knitting, crochet, lacemaking, weaving. I work round the pain and ignore it as much as possible. When I was 19, because of the spina bifida occulta, a doctor told me I will be in a wheelchair by the time I’m 25 … so that means either of the following:

He was wrong, or
I haven’t yet reached 25.

I prefer the second option. And, of course, one of the best aids to stop hurting is to laugh, keep your sense of humour. Just because it hurts to walk doesn’t mean I should stop trying, and the rest of me works just fine.