Another Day …

I’m sitting here at my CIC, my Command Information Center …

And I’m at a loss. Ever get that way? When you know, or at least think, you should be doing something, but you’re at a loss what that should be?

That’s me today, sitting here at my workstation, trying to think of anything I deem worthy to share with the public. The joke is that I write this as though I have an audience, and maybe I will, but my audience right now is an imaginary audience of one. I have in mind who that person is, but that is a secret I’ll keep. Maybe not until death, but at least until I’m old. Very old. And I intend to live a good, long life, even if my accident may have shaved a few years off my life expectancy. So what if I live into my 90s instead of my 100s? That’s still a good run.

And here I was, thinking I had nothing to say. It just goes to show yo never can tell …

This is an average Tuesday for me. I slept well and, for once, had no dreams that I could remember. Now that the weather here is more spring-like, my arm is complaining less. It was almost intolerable heading into the weekend. A drop in barometric pressure spells doom for my neuropathic pain.

I can’t speak for all chronic pain sufferers, but the few I know have corroborated my experience. Chronic pain is, well, a pain. As a writer, I’m never at a loss for how to describe my pain: sometimes it burns like the worst sunburn ever, sometimes it jabs me like an inoculation shot when I least expect it, and in parts of my arm that aren’t meant for a shot; other times it feels like my forearm is in a vice lined with spikes, and sometimes if feels like a combination of all of those.

Yeah, not fun.

I’ve learned that my pain is affected by inflammation. I can’t do much about the weather other than ride it out. I can limit inflammation, though. Diet, hydration, and even adequate sleep all have their roles to play.

I’m working on diet, going primarily plant-based, with plenty of whole-food plant based recipes that are naturally inflammatory. Don’t ask me what they are just yet, because I don’t know. What I do know is that I have several cookbooks that are geared towards things like reducing inflammation as well as preventing cancer. Funny how those two things are closely linked, and modern medicine is finally figuring that out.

So I’m excited for that! I’ll keep you apprised on how that pans out for me. I’m hopeful, because this pain is a bitch!