5.9... 5.8?

No, not an earthquake... 

There are two different scales for pain used in medicine. For some reason, I have an easier time understanding the 1-6 scale (as opposed to the 1-10 scale). 1 means you feel perfect; 6 means you absolutely can't function. 3-4 is the average range, pain, but whatever. I spend a lot of time in the low 4's, and am okay with that.

Very early Friday, I had one of my Charley Horses, but one of the worst I've ever had. I was incapacitated. Technically, I suppose I should call it a 6, only I was capable of forming words. True, only ones with four letters... but words, just the same. So I'd call it a 5.9. But it was for a relatively short period of time. Once I got it under control, I was able to drop back into the low 5's, and eventually felt like a nice 4.8 for much of the workday, thanks to an ace bandage and some Advil.


Then, Friday night I had a strange occurrence. I went from minor winter sniffles to a knock-me-down chest cold in literally 20 minutes. I have not had pneumonia in something like 30 years, but that's sure what it felt like, except more vehement. The rest of that night, Saturday all day, and into Sunday morning I was varying from 5.6-5.8. I was in pain everywhere, and could barely get up the energy and muscle control to get out of bed or lift a bottle of vitamin water. I was capable of thinking, some. I could even type a little, once I got the laptop close enough to me. But mostly I just slept, woke up, tried to figure out if I could get out of bed to drink something, and then got back into bed, slept, woke up... you get the picture. Pain was all over -- muscle pain especially, but also joints and bones and headache. Finally Sunday, late morning, the chest cold started relaxing its grip on me. I was even able to do a short outing Sunday late afternoon, which tuckered me out big time, but felt great just the same.

It's now Tuesday, and I'm still getting over my weekend. Yesterday at work my numbers ranged 5.1 to 5.5; today, I'd say more like 4.6-5. 


Moral of the story? A minute or so of 5.9 is much better than a weekend of 5.8!

Reality Check

Okay, so I just broke my back about three minutes ago, maybe four. I can move all of my extremities, and can twist, although breathing is a bit labored while doing that. I can touch my toes... and stand up after touching my toes, again not easily. So, is it a fair assessment that I only Fibro-broke my back, not real breaking?

Ow... Ow... Ow...

Ow.