Re: Protecting from pain in public


"Nann Bell" <hanbellGOGATORS@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:0001HW.C2843F39001705F41258F1D0@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
My mom discovered the cane trick when she was recovering from her knee
replacement. Folks were so much nicer to her when she had it that she
decided to use it on bad days in the future. She just keeps it in the
car.
(She lives in a college town, so crosses paths with many 20 somethings who
just don't think until they see the cane)

I use the brace trick when in handshake situations A LOT! My husband even
reminds me sometimes to put on a wrist or wrist/thumb brace when we're
approaching a major handshake situation. The other option I use is to
shake
hands left-handed, keeping your right hand in a very protected place -
generally staight down or behind my back. That usually mkes people attend
a
bit more and they almost never grip as hard when I shake left-handed. If
they don't know me, I'll say something about having "hand issues".

I think the reason a "bump" hits us so hard is because it also "bumps" our
usual protective covering. We are so accustomed to guarding ourselves
against the expected. We also are accustomed to blocking out a certain
amount of pain. When we are bumped it is unexpected and we suddenly have
pain breaking through at an unaccustomed level. And it is so difficult to
avoid these bumps when people see us as normally healthy people rather
than
gimps living in chronic pain. We'd rather not look too gimpy, but
sometimes
protecting our bodies is more important.


That make an incredible amount of sense. Sometimes I think we are so busy
covering up that we even forget we are doing it. And we forget what a lot
of energy we expend just getting through a normal day or a normal situation.

Jo



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