So, I mostly skipped people's other posts on this topic, so forgive me if it seems like I'm dismissing anyone else, but... holy SHIT, brenda. That's horrifying.

My family and I spent a lot of time this weekend being grateful for our relative health, and man, it's the truth. (My grandmother isn't doing so hot, but she's 87, is still really pretty active, and has had a damn good ride.)

Happy Birthday Jesse!

Happy Birthday Theodosia!

But the pain is there every day. So sometimes it's not complaining, so much as explaining. That I do a lot, and it makes me self-conscious. But, fuck, it hurts.

ita, I think about you a lot and about what you go through - I had a long period of severe recurring back pain (still nothing like Steph's, or what you have with your migraines, I'd guess) and I could not believe how the pain - and the unrelievability of it - just overtook my entire brain. Give me acute over constant any day. And with what I was just saying about my mom - I feel so bad that I never really understood what those migraines did to her. I always knew she was one of the strongest women I've ever known; I had no idea how strong. I just weep to think about how she pushed on through so much for so long, and we never really got it.

brenda, that is truly horrible and worth a lot of directed rage. And ita, your just being tired of the explaining (and the pain) too.

Even when I'm having the milder cramps, I'm always a little startled when they lift 6 hours later and I realize how foggy I've been. I may think I'm all there, but I'm not.

Speaking of pain (to be irreverent,) you'd think putting up a shelf involved the loss of limbs. My dad is a champion curser. And easily led to them.

brenda - that's horrid.

and the problem with pain- knowing how bad it is. The person suffering knows it is bad , but how bad? The doctor doesn't have any way to tell how the paitent is feeling. and pain management is still a black art. not everything works for everyone - somethings need time to work and sometimes you need to combind things...

Thanks for all the birthday wishes! I'm feeling very well-wished at the moment!

The drive back was much better than the drive down, a shade over 6 hours (with minor stoppage) versus 8.5. Listened to more of Hodgman's book (the part about the 51 states, with entirely dubious state songs supplied by Coulton) and made excellent time. Probably as much of a birthday present as I'm going to get.

Oh, I forgot I'd downloaded that. Must (find a time to) listen.

Timelies all!

Happy Birthday Jesse and Theodosia!

Florida was nice. Warm weather, way too much food and I slept a good amount. Got to see Laura and her DH and had a good time, even if the plans got totally changed.

I'm so sorry Brenda that you and your mother had to go through this. How horrible and frustrating for all involved.

I've not personally had to deal with any real chronic pain in my life. Loved ones have been in pain and it is such a feeling of helplessness to not be able to help. Low or high pain tolerance doesn’t really matter when the person is in pain.

There seems to be so much more research on pain management, and yet too many people I care about are suffering.

There's reason to hope that real-time MRIs and cat scans will be able to quantize pain levels, which will lead to more effective treatments, not to mention if a patient can point to a chart that shows they're experiencing an '8 on 10 scale' pain, the medical personnel won't have much wiggle room to tell them to shake it off.

I'm in a fair amount of chronic pain much of the time -- which I'd characterize as enough pain that aspirin and other NSAIDs can't beat it back. It kind of greys out all the color from your life, you know? I've gotten a lot more empathetic than I ever was before, though, because I know for sure I was underestimating how much guts it takes to go through life with migraines or serious asthma or in fact a whole long list of physical ailings.