Pain

Living with chronic pain seems to have become a fact of life for me and for a number of people I know, and I wonder what is going on? Is it our age group - the "over 50s"? Are we simply living longer and falling apart from decrepitude? Has it always been this miserable to get older, or is there an environmental factor?

Compared to previous generations we have lives of physical ease. Few of us spend twelve hour days plowing or standing at endless assembly lines. We've had access to health care, inoculations, decent food, vitamins and vacations. We're supposed to enter our retirement years ready to travel the world. Magazines picture us jogging, playing tennis, having active lives in senior colonies where we swim during the day and dance every evening.

The reality among my circle is somewhat different. Yes, there are a few who exercise at the gym or travel but there are far more of my friends who feel accomplishment at walking to the car and affording the grocery store bill. We are afflicted with an amazing variety of chronic pain sources from arthritis to fibromyalgia. Joints are being replaced, backs adjusted, tendons injected, and pain medications consumed in vast quantities just to allow daily survival. My arthritis began in my fingers when I was 40 and is slowly deforming all the hand joints. My knees were next to go. The feet are a recent addition. The pain shifts, ebbs, and flows. Some days are fair with the pain level a background grumble. Others are worse as pain roars in triumph and I am unable to effectively fight back.

My cries of pain are in chorus with friends:Sandy, Donna, Dyan, Gail, Ileah, Snow, Barbara, Anne, Mary, Jerry, Nancy, Kathy, Linda... all deal with persistent pain. Few of us embrace these as those golden senior years. They are at best made of silver, easily tarnished.