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Saturday, January 31, 2009

Pain management

Well, curses. I do not remember when the pain in my right leg left. You'd think I would have marked that day in my memory forever but apparently I was distracted.

I do remember when the pain came back. It was this last Thursday, two days ago. I also remember what I did the day before that may have contributed to its return.

Wednesday night I went to my local college, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, to attend the screening of a documentary. The film was to be shown in the Education building, a building I had not been in before. I looked at a Cal Poly map before I took off and I thought I had a picture in my head of where the building was. But I didn't. I wandered, actually walked rapidly (for me, considering I'm a bit slow these days) for fifteen or twenty minutes, circling and going through buildings, before I found it. Most of my trekking was on hard surfaces, asphalt and concrete. So this walking may have contributed.

My money, though, is on the standing. After the film I went to the front of the room to talk to the filmmaker. I had to wait a while to get to her and to wait for a friend who also had questions and comments. My friend noticed my discomfort, even though I was trying to hide it. I don't know how long I was standing but I do know that my experience has been that standing is far worse for me than walking.

It irritates me that I did not keep closer track of the pain so I could correlate the rise and fall better than I have so far. I now intend to get a small daily planner type notebook. I will bring it to my bedside with me at night and take it with me through the day. I will note how I feel when I get up in the morning and will note the activities I engage in as well as pain levels, as best I can. That's my plan. I hope, though these actions, to narrow down what causes me the most grief and what helps with the pain as well.