The Beast of Pain!

The past couple of days my mother has had increased pain to her hands especially. She has been on several medications that I am not so sure her and her husband dispensed correctly. It is hard being so far and not being able to help her fill a pill box. I am glad that I can contact her doctors though. It really helps to touch base with them a get an idea of what she is supposed to be doing. Now the other hard part is getting her to listen! I think everyone of you know how stubborn she can be:) She is in the hospital getting her meds straightened out with supervision! I am very thankful for this because at home it was a mess! Her spirit and mood were much improved this morning. Now that the pain is under control they just have to get her urinating more effectively. The kidney that does not function is giving her trouble. Please keep her in your prayers!

The past few days of trying to comfort my mother and talking to doctors about her pain management and control have set the wheels of my mind turning. My brain has lingered on the thoughts of pain and how it can totally debilitate a person not only in a physical aspect but also emotionally. It can drive a person quite insane. It has been cause for a person to literally murder them self (commit suicide). Although we are taught in college that there are only two types of pain acute and chronic, I tend to disagree. I believe there is not only physical pain withing the world but also emotional, psychological, and imagined. There are crazy people in this world who will fake they are in pain just for attention or drug seeking. There are others who induce pain on themselves as a punishment because they think it will please God. There are others who purposefully hurt them self as a cry for help (to try to get someone to listen that they are having trouble coping on their own). There are people in this world who practice painful rituals because they like the sensations it brings (I think they are nuts but who am I:)

As a nurse I deal and treat the pain of others daily. In some respects I think that acute pain is easier to manage because it usually has a treatable cause that once fixed ends the ordeal of the pain. Chronic pain on the other hand sometimes no matter what drugs are administered or alternative treatments tried can still constantly rear its ugly head. It is like a bug constantly biting you or a saw blade that slowly severs your limb millimeter by millimeter. There is also the consideration of where the pain is located. Nerve and bone pain I think are the most difficult to treat. They totally incapacitate the person afflicted because of their location and the broad range of radiation of painful stimuli that they induce.

I have administered millions of drugs in my eight years of nursing to treat pain. I have held hands and prayed with hundreds of patients who are suffering with it. I have been amazed at the strength of some to deal, live, and function despite of it. I have also been frustrated by others who even in the most minuscule of painful circumstances turn into whining idiots that you just want to smack and try to show just what it means to be sick and hurting. I have watch family members live with diseases that induce it. I have experienced some acute cases of it and believe me it is like no other sensation of relief ever felt when it dissipates into obscurity. I have watch family members and patients writhe and weep in anguish because of it.

There it no easy answer for pain. It tears and torments souls physically and emotionally daily.
It expresses itself in the eyes of the Alzheimer's patient who still has some of his right mind left but cannot express it due to disease. You see the anguish of there soul as they ride around in their wheelchair asking the same question repeatedly-What am I going to to?
It is in the tears of loved ones burying their dead. A life that may have been lost seemly for no reason due to drugs or alcohol being involved. A life that may have been taken far too early by a disease or tragic accident. You hear the pain in the anguished cries that erupt from the very depths of their souls.

These are just a few examples. I am sure that all of you could come up with many examples of your own. Why is it though that pain suffered sometimes teaches us a valuable lesson or makes us a better person for suffering it? Why is it one of those necessary components of life? I mean we do need it to function daily. You would never know if your hand was about to be burned on the stove without it. That appendix that needs taken out you only knew about because your side was killing you. That brain tumor that was found was because you had an uncontrollable headache. So in a sense it can also save your life!

It is hard to imagine how something that is so awful to experience can also save your life!

These are my thoughts stemming from talking with my mother recently. I send this poem to her:
I don't have all the answers for pain
I hope I never do
I know just that I can lend a helping hand
To ease the pain you may be going through
I can listen to you rant and cry
I can give hugs and a gentle touch
I know this may not be much
Just know that it comes from the heart
Sent to you though miles apart
I also know there is a higher power
Who can be nearer than any human in dark hours
So please just do what known is for you the hardest
Trust, just trust

Until next time everyone. The next post I promise will have a cheery aura:)