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When Illness Obliterates My Intentions
I am going to begin by apologizing but, please understand, I no longer do that frequently. I had hoped to have several examples of pain documentation tools on the site by the end of the weekend. It is now Tuesday and I am no closer to getting them posted. They are a work in progress. In addition to the pain in my head and body, I frequently have trouble with my vision. As I write this, it is blurry and coming in and out of focus. If I look too long, it becomes a blob of white on black. I thought that maybe taking a few days off might help,…
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Define Your Pain
In my opinion, perhaps the most important part of your medical record is a daily log of your most important symptoms. Pain is my number one and is considered part of your vital signs (along with respiratory rate, heart rate, blood pressure, etc) by medical personnel. I don’t know about you, but I tend to tolerate higher levels of pain than the average person. I’m sure it comes from being in almost constant pain for the past 10 – 12 years. However, when a physician’s office staff asks me for my pain level and I say “3,” my “3” isn’t equal to your “3” or the next person’s “3.” It…
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Always Put on Clean Underwear!
Did your parents tell you this as a child? There was a time when parents would tell their children, who were traveling ANYWHERE, to put on clean underwear. This was in preparation for a potential accident. Goodness knows you did not want the rescue squad to see you had on dirty underwear!! What does this have to do with chronic illness and pain? Let me explain. For the entire length of my illness, no matter how bad I feel, I have always walked out of my home as put together as I could manage. Now, again, you might be thinking, so what? That’s what we all do and you might…