Like I Said...

...The headstone better read "Saint Raychele" or something...because I'm taking the martyr road, that's why...

 

 

Just kidding.

 

 

You can't let life keep you from doing things, or stay flat on your back for every little ache and pain.  You need to get up, and go to your job, and get yelled at by some angry physician's assistant in Milwaukee (it's like people there are either jolly as hell or they just want to jump up and down on your head.  WTF?  I'm just sayin'... I see that "414" pop up on my work phone and I never know what I'm gonna get...)  People who do this miss out on a lot of life--trust me on this--I know a lot of these people.

 

Also, when you have a weird diagnosis like a Chiari Malformation, which some people have from cradle to grave with no symptoms whatsoever, and some people, uh, don't, there appears to be a vast and open space in which people with the diagnosis roam, free to be as affected by it as they choose.  And some of them are REALLY affected.  Like, life stops, affected.  Most unfortunate.

 

 

And...you don't want to say anything to people who are handling it differently than you.  Questioning whether or not someone is actually experiencing pain is very, very, tricky business.  I mean, I can tell you what I think (I think you should BUCK UP AND STOP YER WHININ' is what I think) but, you don't want to accuse anyone of over-stating the effect of pain on their lives, because then you sound like a complete bitch. 

 

Ahem...yeah, I'm a complete bitch.  But I'm OK with that!  I really am!

 

I blipped through a few articles about Chiari this morning, because I am curious if there is anything new happening in the medical world, and was both amazed and disheartened by post after post on message boards and comments, from people who hear a diagnosis and immediately turn it into a pity-party.  One lady lamented how "once again", her family went out to do an activity, and she had to stay at home because of Chiari. 

 

Um...what the hell kind of activity was it?  Were they getting shot out of cannons?  You couldn't go along and watch?  Or maybe more importantly...what kind of assholes do you have in your family who can't think of a way to include you in things? 

 

"I'm gonna sit on my ass and complain about the pain, online" seems incredibly stupid to me.  I say (and I say this because sitting at a computer is NOT a good thing to do all day if you have any kind of spinal or muscle issues, weakness, etc--you should be WORKING that shit...) that if the pain is bad enough that you have to sit still, but you can still manage to get yourself in front of the internet, then why can't you manage to get yourself to a seated position someplace else?

 

 

*sigh*

 

 

See, this is why I come off as a complete bitch.  Sorry.  Sort of.  I know that trying to maintain a decent weight, and doing some yoga or meditating is not for everyone.  That stuff is just for the people who don't use pain as an excuse. 

 

Yeah, I said it.

 

Anyway....I'm working.  And stretching.  And drinking 27 bottles of water.  And all the other stuff I do to make myself feel better. 

 

All so I can get bitched at by the 414.  Because when I'm not being a complete bitch, I'm a martyr, that's why...