Rain
I’m sitting here on a rainy Saturday afternoon in mid-July. I’ve spent the day as follows:
- I managed to get out of bed and get dressed. This has become a chore. I tend to wake with legs that are simultaneously numb and in excruciating pain. It takes a half hour (at least!) of massaging my calves and feet before I can stand up. (To give you an idea what it feels like, cut off the circulation to a leg so it falls asleep. Then hold your sleeping leg over an open flame. Keep it there. Yep. Not fun.)
- Eat breakfast. Thankfully, I have a wife who’s willing to cook, since I can’t properly grasp a spatula. Or a knife. Or any other cooking tool. Heck, I can’t even use the microwave. Or pour a cup of coffee without spilling half the pot. Have I mentioned lately that I married the greatest woman in the world? I should probably devote a post to her one day.
- Shave. I don’t know whether it was Mr. Remington or Mr. Norelco who invented the electric razor, but God bless them. I would resemble the wolfman without their invention.
(In case you haven’t noticed, mornings are no longer my most enjoyable part of the day)
- Take my daily walk. I’m up to about a half-mile now. For a guy who used to bike 20 miles just to warm up, it doesn’t seem like much. But 3 months ago I was still stuck in a wheelchair. Small victories!
- Get through my email. Even though I haven’t worked in over 2 years now, I still get around 150 of them a day.
- Take a nap. I do that more than I ever did. I guess I’m finally catching up on all that sleep I missed in my 20s🙂
- Read.
Reading is something I’ve always enjoyed. Today I finished “Aeon Rising” by Michael Mather. I’m also reading a tome on argumentative thinking -essentially, relearning how to argue all sides of a position intelligently. While I’ve applied that type of thinking throughout my adult life, I’m still picking up a few pointers.
Mather is a decent author, generally creating post-apocalyptic worlds with a hard science fiction underpinning. In this one, an apparent supernova explodes in Earth’s backyard, creating all kinds of disasters, melting the South Pole, stranding a spec-ops force in the Amazon. Only… Is it really a supernova? He blends in AIs (both good and not so good), a couple of mad scientists, a rogue senator and colonel, a Chinese spy/astrophysicist, the NSA, and a shadowy tech terrorist group.
Rereading that last part makes me realize it probably sounds like a bit too much to jam into one novel. Hey, I mentioned Mather is a pretty good writer. He not only gets it all in, but they’re essential to what is a tightly wound story.
So, I got off on a tangent. This was supposed to be post about rainy days, and somehow it turned into a book review. Anyway, back to my original subject: rainy days SUCK. They especially suck when you spend most of your day trying to ignore pain. See, not only can’t you do things outdoors which helps alleviate the pain. The damp, cool air makes everything hurt more than usual, as well.
Anyway, the sun is supposed to make a reappearance tomorrow. Here’s to better days ahead!
So you want to talk pain?
I came across an article from Catherine Hinton that just may be the best description of the pain from which Crohn’s Disease patients suffer. I usually compare it to being in labor, but not being a member of the fairer sex I’ve relied on descriptions of that pain from my wife (and others).
Catherine begins her description this way:
“If you have Crohn’s Disease you are familiar with pain. Not just a ‘pain’, but the whole repertoire of pain sensations that the human body can manufacture. Sometimes you might be treated to a solo rendition that can be quietened down with over the counter meds, but more often than not Crohn’s pulls out all the stops and decides to delight you with a symphony performance that inclues the equivalent of timpani drums and death metal guitars. You might think that the pain is limited to bowels (it is after all Inflammatory Bowel Disease) but oh no, if Crohn’s can drag in other parts of the body, it will!“
I highly suggest you hit the link above and read the rest of her description, then share it with your friends and family. It’s both funny and highly accurate!
Political Baseballs 