Wednesday, October 20, 2021

The Pain is Real

I watched the show about the Sackler family and the rise of OxyContin.  Those greedy bastards.  Really no different from many of the big corporations, except that this corporation was directly and knowingly killing people.  The other negative outcome is that, up until this new drug, pain management was not treated seriously and many people suffered needlessly.  



This photograph is from a trip I took a month ago to a tiny town called Pine Junction, southwest of Denver. It's about a two hour drive for me and I went to visit with someone I knew in high school but haven't seen in 45 years!  We had a great time together; ate lunch, drove around the mountains and I fed her horses the entire bag of carrots I brought along.  Someday will go on a trail ride, but I had a sore neck and am completely out of shape so I didn't feel as if it were a good time for riding on the back of a large animal.

The drive back really did a number on my neck, and I've not been well since.  Doc gave me muscle relaxers and pain pills, and they put me to sleep just fine.  As for pain management?  Not so good.  I've tried massage and acupuncture but didn't get any relief.  Going back to doc in a couple of days for a follow up.  I need an X-ray as well, just to make sure there's nothing going on in my cervical spine.  How I wish for effective pain relief.  But now the powers that be in the medical field are once again shy about prescribing meds that might really help.

So, that is the medical report, boys and girls, and those who identify as non-binary. Speaking of which, do. you find it difficult to keep up with the latest language to identify people?  I finally looked up "BIPOC" because I started hearing it and reading it a LOT.  Black/Indigenous/People of Color.  There you have it, and you're welcome.  Now, I remember when my late husband continued to use the identifier "Oriental" for people of Asian ancestry, and it did make me cringe.  And, I want to use language that is respectful.  Latinx is another one that stumped me until I looked it up.  Latin-X is the correct pronunciation, I believe.  The world is changing, and I want to keep up, and I hope no one judges me if I get it wrong every now and then.  We all need a little kindness.

Next time I post, I'll share my story about "joining" our local Unitarian Universalist church.  Me? Church?  Hell yeah.


6 comments:

  1. I really hope you find some pain relief for that achy neck, Tara. I'm glad you're going to get an x-ray. It will give them some more information. Interesting about all the new terms for humans these day. I tend to just think of us as one crazy species on our poor broken earth. I know that doesn't really help or work at making things easier and better for people, but my anthropological evolutionary soul just sees the world that way. Beautiful photo of your day trip there. Wow!

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  2. It's good to see one of your excellent photos. It's not till you get a pain in the neck that you realise just how accurate that little phrase describes something that endlessly wears you down and saps your spirit. I hope you soon find some treatment for the pain.

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  3. Just had an X-ray today - nothing unusual except slight compression in a couple of areas. Nothing remarkable. Next: physical therapy.

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    1. I hope the physical therapy helps. Take care there, Tara.

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  4. Hope that physical therapy helps, Tara, and that you can be free of pain.

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  5. I hope your neck feels better soon. It's good news that physical therapy might do the trick. I am always grateful when people ask about what they don't know. I am never offended by questions rooted in a desire to learn what matters to others. My cousin is married to a Native American, and I often heard him refer to family members as Indian, and I had no idea whether my saying it would be offensive, and the only way to learn what he personally thought about this was to ask. BIPOC is a mouthful. I'm waiting to see how far it travels. Latinx is already in common use, though not all Latinx people agree with the term. We are always learning if we are open. I love that you are open.

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