You know how the rest of the rhyme goes, right? The whole thing (substituting pain for rain) is:

“Pain, pain go away, come again another day,”

Surely if you suffer from Chronic Pain - Complex Regional Pain Syndrome/ Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy (CRPS/RSD) in particular - you definitely know how this rhyme affects your life on a daily, hourly, and prob. even minute by minute basis.

Blegh. 

Today is an especially hideous pain day for me. In fact, I’ve been having a seriously rough time since my SCS implantation surgery 4 weeks ago. We also recently learned that they may have to go back in to reposition the leads. So that was slightly, umm…. disheartening*. That’d be procedure Lucky Number 21 in 13 months! If my procedures were a person, they’d legally be allowed to drink…

Slightly worrying. Somewhat hilarious. 

CRPS/RSD is a disease that unfortunately LOVES to breed on whining, lethargy, and a lack of hope & faith. Frustrating - oh, I am very well aware! With a chronic illness - especially one involving pain - it’s beyond simple for even the best of us to do all 3, or at the very least 1, of the above.

CRPS/RSD just hurts SO bloody much! Seriously - if you’re a patient, think back over the past week. I bet you can think of a time or perhaps even multiple times you’ve complained, slept instead of physio, and/or nearly ‘given up’.

I mean, we all do it. But as the old saying goes, “Bad company corrupts good character”. In addition, negativity is so unhealthy for the disease, and can make it spread so much faster. I know for sure that’s the case for me and my Complex Regional Pain Syndrome/Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy (CRPS/RSD)

AND SO… LET’S MAKE A PACT - YOU AND I… 

Let’s promise each other to instead look on the bright side. Instead of having a grumble, there are so many fun, easy, and best of all PAIN FREE (!) things that we can do to lighten our load when we’re feeling low or need a bit of distraction. 

Here’s what I did today… xx

I asked my mother while she was gardening whether she had any flowers she was going to dump due to changing weather. Lucky for me, this week there were a few roses from her gorgeous rose garden.

And so I arranged them next to my bed to bring me some JOY. 

My amazing friends, family friends, Will Smith (true!), & boyfriend have recently sent me cards, and so I found a way to display some of those around the roses to represent LOVE.  

Ta-DAAAAH!!! If I’m going to spend any time in my bed, I don’t want it to represent Chronic Illness & Constant Pain, but instead, LOVE and JOY.

Be Well - I hope you find a way to make your space a happy one also. Lots of love, Danielle xx

(* This info on my lead-surgery isn’t a 100% definite just yet. But I like to share with y’all so just giving you a heads-up :)