Finding Joy in a Pain-filled Life

"But pain…seems to me an insufficient reason not to embrace life. Being dead is quite painless. Pain, like time, is going to come on regardless. Question is, what glorious moments can you win from life in addition to the pain?" ~ Lois McMaster Bujold, Barrayar, 1991

I always had a very low threshold of pain. Since my MS diagnosis, I am learning, much to my surprise, that I can live with pain and still find joy in life. I am learning to coexist with the scary pain monster.

One day last year, I was happily going through my morning routine, washing my face and brushing my teeth with an electric toothbrush. Suddenly I had a blinding pain. It felt as if I was being electrocuted. There were shocks of lightening bolts jumping through my mouth. I dropped the toothbrush and after what seemed like an eternity, the pain resided. I was shaken, I had trouble understanding and tears were streaming down my face. I did not know what to do next.

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Is the Bone Broken?

Apparently it's not always easy to know if a bone is actually broken. Some are more obvious than others.

In April 2006 I was transferring into the car when I heard a loud POP and my leg hurt really bad. It hurt again each time I moved it. My doctor sent me for an X-ray and MRI. I thought the X-ray would have been enough and the MRI was overkill.

The nurse told me everything was fine and I should go home, so I did. I was home less than half an hour when she called and said I had to go back. There was a fracture after all.

I always thought that was strange. Then I found an article on WebMD that says it may not be so strange after all. Sometimes an X-ray does not even show a fracture. Other tests such as an MRI or CT scan. I know the MRI simplified diagnosing MS and injured athletes often have MRIs, so I should not be surprised. The role of the MRI in diagnosing and identifying problems is expanding.

I was lucky they kept looking at my results after I left. Otherwise I would not have known my leg was actually broken and not merely bruised.

technorati tags: MRI, bonefracture, downthemspath