Pain...

Today, I felt real, physical, excruciating pain. While at work, a 500lb Operating Room Table, rolled over my foot. Miraculously... I did not swear out loud! I calmly, but rather urgently, left the area to go get some ice.

As I sat on a couch with my foot up on a chair, packed in ice, being attended to by a fellow employee... the pain finally hit me. You see, my sympathetic response had run it's course... no more fight or flight... the adrenaline was wearing off, the endorphins had been burned through... I finally swore out loud!

After an impromptu look by a surgeon who just happened to be passing by... I ended up getting a more formal exam and x-rays. There is a fracture, some soft-tissue crushing injury, and I'm going to lose a toe-nail! Hopefully, the bleeding was from the avulsed toe-nail, and doesn't penetrate through the soft tissue down to the bone.

I now have a walking boot, and two scripts for an antibiotic and pain medicine! I have my foot elevated, iced, and am enjoying the effects of Lortab!

The pain I felt today, was intense... but surprisingly manageable. I find it interesting that such a trauma can occur and that the human body can withstand, persevere, and adapt!

If only all trauma, physical, emotional, and spiritual, could be handled that way! Perhaps it can, and I've already mentioned the secret...

You see, initially, there was nothing I could do or not do to immediately affect my situation. It was a natural response by my body to get me through and into a safe place. When my own defenses wore off, I had a friend to help me. This friend helped me with immediate first aid and then getting me to more definitive help. Then even more friends helped me by calling in prescriptions so I wouldn't have to wait long, offering me a ride home, and willing to check on me and bring me food, walk my dog, etc.

As we go through life, there are things that happen that we can not control. We respond to these things in a purely survival oriented manner. Afterwards, we need friends to help restore us.

My foot will hurt for awhile. But the help that I received today, will always be remembered!

It's time for more pain medicine... talk to you in a few days! ;)