I Hit A New Low Yesterday

Have you ever done something as a Spoonie that made you stop a moment and say “I definitely just hit a new low”? Let me tell you all a little story.

About a year ago, I went out for a rare day of fun with my family. We went to a town about 20-30 minutes away to do a little bit of shopping and mall-browsing. My body can’t always handle this, but mall-browsing can be okay because I can keep my pace as slow as I need to, try to keep myself from getting out of breath, and sit down for breaks if I need to.

After about 20 minutes of browsing, I was reaching my limit, but not for the usual reason – I was noticing that my hip hurt. A lot. It was hard to walk, which is pretty essential in browsing a mall, and I had to cut the fun short before I wanted to. I honestly thought it wasn’t a big deal, maybe I just overdid it because I go through long periods of being pretty inactive, and common sense tells me that it’s not unreasonable to hurt a little (or a lot) after you do things you’re not used to doing.

But it hurt for – and I swear I’m not making this up – an entire week after that. And it’s been something I’ve been dealing with ever since. I don’t think it’s a very big thing, just another arthritic spot on my body because I definitely feel it in the joint where my hip meets my leg bone and I have so many arthritic spots on my body that one more doesn’t shock me. (Apparently I don’t have a very good working relationship with my cartilage; it just keeps leaving me!) And actually, since that first week after the mall-browsing incident, it’s only flared back up when bad weather is approaching.

That’s where the rest of this story comes in.

Last night I knew we had bad weather coming in, because everywhere hurt. (Side note: as usual I was right, it’s rained all day today.) Including that bad hip. But it was actually worse this time, much more like it was that first week. It even hurt to shift my position in bed. No meds helped it. The only time I felt any amount of comfort was with my trusty heating pad. The problem was, I was wearing thick fleece-like leggings – my favorites, the ones with the faux fur lining. Soooooooo comfy, but so insulated – the heat wasn’t reaching through them to the extent I needed the comfort.

So I stuffed my heating pad down my pants.

*Mandatory pause so you can laugh like a maniac.*

And no, I’m not kidding, I actually did stuff my heating pad down my pants. You know, sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do. And when you’re in your own home, not in the company of anyone but your own people (who understand that you’re a chronic pain sufferer and you just don’t want to hurt), you reach a certain point where you just don’t care how ridiculous you look. Frankly, I laughed at myself – way too hard – because it was ridiculously hilarious. My personal philosophy is that while so much of the Spoonie Life isn’t funny, like the pain and suffering and the constant inconveniences (for lack of a better word), it’s good to laugh at the parts that you can find humor in. Laughter is good for the soul, and to an extent it can also be good for pain relief. If I didn’t find reasons to laugh at the parts that are funny to me, I’d spend my entire life crying and miserable. And I definitely don’t want that.

For those of you with a bit more “provocative” sense of humor like me, no I didn’t not get any, uh…”enjoyment” out of it. Luckily, the pain was on the outside rather than the inner part of my hip/thigh like it normally is. The only enjoyment I got was the enjoyment of minor pain relief. 😉

Have you ever had to do something that looked or seemed completely ridiculous and hilarious for the sake of pain or symptom relief? What was it? Tell me your story. I’ll laugh with you, not at you!

P.S. – I told you all I would update you on my last post, this seemed like a good point to do that without making it a blog post all on its own. Thankfully my husband’s co-worker tested negative for COVID-19. While I’m selfishly grateful (for my sake and the sake of my husband and son), I’m definitely grateful for said co-workers sake as well. He is in the high-risk category. My family and I remain symptom-free and sheltering in place at home, only going out for necessities and taking precautions when we do go out. I hope you are all staying safe as well.