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Chronic Illness is Life Altering
Chronic illness has put me in a different place in life than everyone else my age & I need to try my best to remind myself that it is not something to be ashamed of.
This couldn’t be any more true than it is right now for me. From the outside, almost everyone sees a confident man in his early 50s. He is able to do just about anything he sets his mind to. He is always willing to help regardless of the task. But on the inside, I suffer from chronic pain. Right now as a quick snapshot in time, as I type this, my right foot is having some mild pain and is tingling for some reason. My right knee is painful when I move it as it is bone on bone and has been for over a year now. My right hip feels like someone stabbed it with something like a screwdriver. My right hand is swollen and very painful and typing (which is my job) doesn’t help it at all. My right shoulder is extremely painful, due to trying to play catch with that 750-pound round bale of hay.
On my left side, my fingers are sore and I have a feeling of them being crushed. I also have a slight headache going on as well.
And all that is with 100Mg of Tramadol and 600Mg of Gabapentin on board, it will be another fun day.
The key is, that no one can see any of my pain, it’s not like I have a large open wound, or wearing a cast on my leg, or anything remotely like that. My medical issues are normally invisible.
