Thursday, January 1, 2015

Zero To Ten

I haven't missed a January 1st post in many years and I didn't want today to be different. We celebrated the same way we've done in the past. We cooked ribs on the grill and threw in the sides that are supposed to bring good luck.Most might shudder at the menu, so let's just say it was good and move on!  I didn't take any pics of the food or of Jordan,  Phil, or Eddy who joined us. So what to post about was kicking around my cranium. I kept coming back to something that happened while in the hospital.  There was a question that I was asked as much as I was asked my name and birth date.  "How would you rate your pain on a scale of  zero to ten." Just in case you couldn't figure it out, a picture was shown of the zero with a big smiley face and ten with a big crying face. Funny, the only time I would have said ten...nobody asked! (Maybe it was my vocabulary). Having worked in healthcare for a few million years, I understand that the goal is pain management...or actually pain free. People do not want to feel pain...really, who does? But is that realistic?  If hospitals don't do the most they can to insure a comfortable stay, well there are enough government watch dogs to make sure we do!  This  thought had me wondering how we would rate our lives on a daily basis with that scale.  See, we want our patients pain free, but I'm not sure a pain free life is ideal. I've learned a lot of lessons between zero and ten.  Trust is built, faith developed , love is learned...as well as earned, and that can't happen on a constant zero. We all know the lesson of tasting the bitter to appreciate the sweet.  2015 will have it's share of tens...and it's blessings of zero. But I don't want to discount the two through nine...that's where the character of our souls is waiting.  

21 comments:

betty said...

Pain is subjective I think. I may say 7 for the same level of pain you would say 5, but there has to be something to base it on, I guess. Its usually the hard realities of life that I seem to do my best growing, but I am glad God does not give me all pain scales of 10.

Betty

Shady Del Knight said...

These are excellent observations, dear friend. I remember being asked that pain scale question many times over the years. If you have a chronic pain producing condition rather than a temporary situation such as an injury or surgery, your answer tends to change over the years. The number you report gets lower because you learn to accept a certain constant level of pain as baseline "normal."

Surely suffering was meant to be part of life. I believe much damage has been done to society in an endless quest for zero pain.

Once again, happy new year to you and yours, dear friend YaYa. I hope somebody accidentally on purpose dropped a hunk of meat on the floor near Eddy.

Susan Anderson said...

What a great analogy for life this one is. You made me think this morning, which is quite a feat because I am kind of a zombie. Woke up too early and went to bed too late!

Hope you are feeling better every day…

=)

Rosaria Williams said...

What a profound meditation!

gin said...

Well said.

MunirGhiasuddin said...

I hope that 2015 will give us the positive tens too.
Happy New Year to you and your loved ones.

Laurie said...

Well said and Happy New Year! Hope you get more zeros than tens.

Kay G. said...

Oh, I hope your pain is completely gone very soon!!
Take care of yourself!
You must not be too bad if you can write like this, my dear!!

Kim said...

Oh, I've missed so much. I just had to go back and see what happened. I'm sorry you have to start 2015 in pain but I'm sure you will be as good as new very soon. Take care and heal quickly. The creepy woods will miss you. Happy New Year

joanne said...

I love this post! Great way to think about the 1-9. Honestly I'm always afraid to say my pain is a 10 because I might find out what 10 really is and be so unprepared! So best wishes to you for a great year, for me I'm wishing for a 2-7 type year, just a little of everything and not too much of the bad.

Stacy said...

Well said Yaya, you might have to work that into a talk this year. :) I missed my 12/31 and 1/1 post...ugh! I'll have to do better.

sarah said...

Take care and I hope God helps you through your healing process!

Hilary said...

That's exactly it, Yaya. Here's to the 2's through 9's but may you have very many more in the closer to zero range.

rjerdee said...

Wow, that was one depth-of-field piece of philosophy, my friend! Thanks!!!

Vicki Boster said...

Happ New Year my beautiful friend--I love your thoughts regarding how we should appreciate and live our lives. Truly my life is filled with 0-10's-- but as I'm getting older-- I'm learning to try to find even the best parts of the 0 times.

I hope this new year is full of lots of blessings and "10" moments-
Love
Vicki

selvageedge said...

Was that deep thinking, or were you just hitting the pain meds too hard? Just kidding. I hope that your knee pain goes away totally, but that you have many adventures in your life that will take you all over the pain scale. The one I never understood is why so many women want to experience that 10 with childbirth. The baby part is great, but I was sure grateful to have mine come in a pain-free method. Yay for modern medicine!

Kerri said...

I love your analogy of zero to ten. I'm looking back to see what I missed and why your foot is purple!

Unknown said...
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TexWisGirl said...

congrats on a well-deserved POTW!

joeh said...

Don't know how I missed this.

Congrats on POTW.

Suldog said...

Pain sucks. We do learn a lesson or two, though; you're right about that. Congrats on the POTW!