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Field Notes from Fifty-Five Fruit Street #7. Pain
I was not thinking much about pain when I was getting ready to report to duty at Fifty-Five Fruit Street. Mine has been a life devoid of physical pain. Never have a headache, never broke a bone, never had dental pain, don’t suffer from a chronic inflammatory ailment and well, beyond some soreness from over exertion and some weeks of pain related to surgeries 10 years ago, it’s been a pain free ride, for which I am eternally grateful. I’m sure must have been pain during our three glorious home births, but those short labors were also interspersed with moments of deep repose, grace, other-worldly love, and of course the miraculous life of an amazing child placed in my cradling arms, which has a way of erasing most any pain and also the memory of it!
But in the course of this treatment here there are diagnostic and treatment interventions that hurt: bone marrow biopsies, spinal taps with chemo infusions, insertions of this PICC line, difficult hours in the bathroom, shots to the belly. By now I think I have had all the painful experiences I will see during this and upcoming rounds in residence at Fifty-Five Fruit Street.
This is helpful, preparing mentally, and learning to lean into the pharmaceutical supports to mitigate pain. As a dyed-in-the-wool naturopathic medical doctor, I hate taking more drugs. But I am also a realist and know…
