January 14, 2014: today was filled with ups and downs. Pain level was at 7 this morning. My patient, long-suffering husband dutifully asks me how my foot feels every morning when he wakes up. My usual answer, "Oh I don't know...not as good as yesterday, but better than the day before" is not useful to him, so he's asked me to use the number system. I guess it works as a relative system, as long as I'm always the one estimating it. Side effects of the medication are significantly less pronounced today. (Just in time to double it tomorrow night.) At least it gives me hope that my body will adjust to it eventually.
I think my drive to work experience this morning was sort of a metaphor for the last year. As I started my car this morning, the first thing I heard on the radio was a song that began, "Today could be the best day ever...". Just what I needed to hear. Yes, I've got this. Today is going to be awesome. So I pulled out of my condo complex to find...a sea of cars. (In case you need a little background, I live right beside a freeway, but I am the luckiest person in the world when it comes to commuting. I live three miles from work and never have to get on the freeway. I just take the frontage road for 1/4 mile and go under the underpass. From there, it's a straight shot to work. Eight minutes on a good day, 12 minutes on a bad day.)
Today, however, there was an accident on the freeway, which resulted in said sea of cars converging on the frontage road trying to escape the traffic jam. Which resulted in those of us coming from the adjacent neighborhood having to rely on the kindness of strangers to be invited into the fray. I gave the drivers on the frontage road my very best and most plaintive "Y'all! My foot hurts! Please let me in!" look and eventually I got in the line of crawling vehicles. Those of you with long commutes will not be impressed, but it took me 12 minutes to drive the 1/4 mile to the underpass. When your foot howls every time you step on the gas or brakes, that seems like a long time. The entire commute to work took 25 minutes - not impressive by most standards, but an eternity for me. During the commute, the next song I heard was "Please Ask for Help." Truth is stranger than fiction.
As I said, today was full of ups and downs. Received a link to a hilarious blog about pain levels from a friend, which made my day. (Check it out if you are so inclined: http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2010/02/boyfriend-doesnt-have-ebola-probably.html.) Had a long conversation with one of my brothers, which always makes me very happy. Met some lovely new neighbors who I think will become good friends. Visited with a really nice musician staying with us who is playing a concert with my patient, long-suffering husband. Enjoyed a delicious meal prepared by my patient, long-suffering husband. Foot is swollen like a grapefruit and pain is up to a 9. You win some, you lose some.
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