September: National Pain Awareness Month

September is National Pain Awareness Month in the United States.

I would have given this designation little thought before being diagnosed with high-end-pain illnesses five years ago. I have not one, but two, disorders/diseases/illnesses - with all of each one's accoutrements. I also have osteoarthritis in varying degrees through my spine, both hips, both knees, and possibly - one shoulder.

The National Fibromyalgia Association has done a great job of getting the word out that Fibromyalgia is not only real, but affects millions of the world's citizens.

The makers of Lyrica have done more to turn the tide regarding how this disease is perceived than any other promotion in my recollection.

Having said that, I must also say that Fibromyalgia affects short-term memory. It affects thought processes. However, the television commercials have run often enough that I can safely say I haven't been hit with "isn't that the one they said was all in your head", nearly as often. It still happens from time to time, but not every other time the subject is brought up.

I must also say that Lyrica has helped me to cope with my symptoms. You see, we who have Fibro tend to live with constant pain. The severity fluctuates, but never goes away completely. I pray every day that a new study doesn't find that Lyrica is detrimental in another way, as the Cox-II medications were found to be.

If you read this, please take a cruise on over to www.fmaware.org and read about the disease. That way, you'll already be armed when someone you know is diagnosed. It will happen.

And please remember to say a prayer or two during September (and throughout the year) for those of us who may not appear to be the happiest persons you've ever met. Happiness may be a state of mind deal that can be altered by a positive outlook, but it's a whole lot easier to be "sunny" when you don't hurt.

I'm daring myself to post here every day during September and to use this forum to keep a running journal. If you choose to follow this to see if I can do it and I screw up and forget to post ... email me to let me know I'm not holding up my end of the bargain.

Physical Therapy - Again

Physical Therapy: The time I lose while they put hot packs on my neck and lower back and then make me do painful exercises.

I’m undergoing PT on my neck for the 2^nd time this year.

It didn’t help the first time and I’m not holding on to much hope that it will help this time. And … the first time, I didn’t have a pinched nerve in my neck, caused by bone spurs and arthritis, that was making my right arm and shoulder go numb up to twice a minute.

However, my insurance carrier will not allow me to have an MRI to see what is causing the problem until I’ve undergone PT again.

While giving away our apples to Freecyclers this past few weeks, I met a woman who had had the same surgery our son-in-law had to correct pinched nerves in the neck. She, too, had to go through PT first – and did more damage which is now also causing her leg to go numb.

I already have nerve damage in my lower back and flank. It is very painful. Fibro makes it a habit to hit the weakest points where arthritis is already wreaking havoc.

If this post doesn’t seem to be full of sunshine and hope, blame it on Physical Therapy.

Case of "The Munchies"

Send chocolate! Send munchies! Send … something to wire my mouth shut with!

I’ve had a good run for almost two years. My pain management regimen has been tolerable and somewhat effective. But … now … I’m having to endure a course of corticosteroids to deal with multiple points of osteoarthritis and Fibromyalgia pain. Pain killers alone can’t curb the muscle/joint/nerve endings that throb, burn, and spasm.

This time, it’s a multi-tiered pain that starts with the major muscle that runs between my spinal column and right shoulder; radiating, pinching, spiking, ice-picking and throbbing its way through the ends of my fingertips like a ricocheting arrow that’s been dipped in a boiling soup of poison sumac, habanera sauce, and mercurochrome. My skin may as well have been ripped away by a rabid raccoon for all the protection it currently affords.

Those broken arrow fragments rebounding to jam up under my fingernails are providing spectacular fireworks in Technicolor. The stars I see are almost pretty enough to take my mind off the pain. HA! I’m positive my elbow will give birth to that baby elephant anytime now.

Of course, it’s the shoulder that was injured in a car accident in 1972, and then re-injured by a mugger in ‘88. My friends on the city council took up a collection to buy the mugger a sympathy card, but that’s another story altogether. Nevermind that my friend Doug Sutherlin, mayor at the time, started the rumor to make me laugh rather than gritch at him to provide more security in downtown Tacoma, WA.

Corticosteroids tend to make me hungry. Hungry enough to eat a cardboard box. The kind a refrigerator comes in. Hubby is keeping me corralled and away from his newly-built garden shed.

This is day one of the seven-day course. Today, I’ll take a total of six tablets. Tomorrow, five. On day six, I’ll eat the last tablet.

If only I could take as many pain pills and muscle relaxers today ...

The munchies will go away in about two months.

Until the pain is controlled, please excuse typos, missed words, etc. My brain is short-circuiting and my fingers seem to have a mind of their own.

Finally back in at Blogger!

After nearly four months, I'm finally able to get back into the dashboard at Blogger. Seems my cell ISP didn't like something Yahoo did, that corrupted my HOST files and upset Google. Anyway, after much stress - that didn't help my Fibro at all - I'm back up and running, thanks to fr*e help received at www.techguy.org.

If you're a MySpace member, hop on over to www.myspace.com/lindajhutchinson to read about how I became my own step-sister.

No wonder I have Fibro! My family is enough to ...

If you dear reader, are middle-aged (or leisurely strolling past your 35th birthday), check out http://www.hownottoactold.wordpress.com. My grandmother would have loved this blog! A few laughs should help ease your stress, too.

And with all this extra non-blogging time on my hands, I've had time to completely re-vamp my website, thrice. www.lindajhutchinson.com Good stuff for readers and writers.

Do You Wannabe Like Jordan (Dane, that is)?

One of the things I can still do with some regularity is to write:

We’ve certainly had some great comments during each stop of the Virtual Book Tour for Jordan Dane.

Why was she chosen to be our first vic … I mean featured author? Because she has a very professional website. Because she has a very professional blog. Because she has a presence on MySpace and other networking sites around the ‘Net. Because she attends every writer’s conference she can possibly get to to network with successful writers, editors, agents. Because she promotes herself as a professional writer.

She isn’t resting on her laurels after having sold SIX books to Avon HarperCollins before the first one hit print.

If you’re like me and wannabe like Jordan, take a look at how you’re promoting yourself. Does your website look like a novice put it together? Do you remember to blog more than once a month? Do you network with other writers?

Or do you do like too many very good should-be-published writers … and hunker down in the corner pretending that you’ve done everything you can and the publishing world and all its agents are against you? Think about that as you visit the next stops on The Writer’s Chatroom’s “Show—Not Tell” virtual book tour featuring debut author Jordan Dane. Jordan and Avon HarperCollins are offering opportunities to win great prizes all along the tour.

Next up:
March 19 Cricket Sawyer at http://www.Cricketshearth.blogspot.com
March 22 Diana Castilleja at http://dianacastilleja.blogspot.com

Give yourself every advantage to learn from this marketing dynamo—who just happens to also be a very good writer—and read the interviews and comments at previous stops:

Billie Williams at http://printedwords.blogspot.com
Linda J. Hutchinson at http://reviewhutch.blogspot.com
Kim Richards at http://kim-richards.livejournal.com/
Lisa Haselton at http://lisahaselton.tripod.com/reviewsandinterviews/

And don’t forget to come to the “Launch P-A-R-T-Y!” on March 30th! There are prizes galore!

Debut author Jordan Dane was in top form at the first stop of The Writer's Chatroom's "SHOW--NOT TELL" virtual book tour at the blog home of Billie Williams. http://printedwords.blogspot.com

Next stop? My own blog: http://www.reviewhutch.blogspot.com on March 8th.

Please feel free to leave comments. Since Jordan has thrown a contest into the fray, your comments automatically enter you into a drawing for one of FIVE $20 gift cards to—what else?—a great bookstore. Winners will be announced at the live “Launch P-A-R-T-Y!” on March 30th at THE WRITER'S CHATROOM. We'll also be drawing for those valuable first copies of NO ONE HEARD HER SCREAM at the party.

Here's my review:
Title: No One Heard Her Scream
by Jordan Dane
Avon Harper Collins
ISBN: 9780061252785

Dani Montgomery is but one of the missing, and presumed dead, young women from around San Antonio, TX. She is the focus, and the force, of tough homicide detective Rebecca Montgomery. When Becca is told to stay away from the investigation into Dani’s disappearance, her boss puts her on another case—that of a body found behind a brick wall in an old theater that has been torched.

As Becca investigates the crime scene she realizes she’s being watched by more than one stranger, but one is deliciously tall, dark and dangerous. When she visits the former owner of the theater, a notorious mob boss, she is loathe to find her stranger is his enforcer.

Becca trusts her gut to tie it all together, with the help of one watchful stranger and without the help of the other.

Piecing together evidence at the theater gives rise to the title. NO ONE HEARD HER SCREAM by debut author Jordan Dane is a romantic thriller with all the great elements; intrigue, debauchery, retribution and redemption—with libido to match.

Reviewed by: Linda J. Hutchinson http://www.lindajhutchinson.com

Remembering to be Thankful--Even When it Hurts

The holidays can be a rough time for those of us who suffer from non-life-threatening but life-long illnesses. Often, depression is a part of the illness, and sometimes it's brought on because we dwell on all that we can no longer do.

This crashed down on me me like a load of hot asphalt--as a combination of no longer user-friendly arthritic joints and "Fibro burn"--hit in waves as we were setting the table for our Thanksgiving feast last week.

Gathered around our extended and re-extended table were our kids, their kidlets, friends, a neighbor, and a sibling or two, when I realized I'd lifted the last bowl or plate of anything for the day. Our son-in-law stepped in to help even though he has his own set of physical health issues.

Our "almost"-thirteen-year-old and "almost" adopted grandson popped into the kitchen in time to learn how to smash potatoes, stir gravy, and find the bottom of the kitchen sink once more. Hubby and son ferried food from the kitchen to the dining room and daughter jumped in to ferry empty plates to the dishwasher. We got it done.

Actually, they got it done. I was D-O-N-E for the day.

After eating food I'd spent hours preparing but could not taste because wracking pain had overtaken my senses, my Michael helped me hobble off to bed. After he tucked me in I buried my head in my pillow and cried because I couldn't join my extended family to watch Shrek 3. I'd hit total physical meltdown. Pain robbed my body of movement. Pain seared through my muscles when I'd not moved.

Determined to not let osteoarthritis and fibromyalgia steal away time with my family, I gobbled down my allowance of pain-numbing medications early the next morning. While not alert enough to chance driving or operating machinery, I was able to rock the baby, and hug our 3, 4, 7, 8, and "almost" 13, year-olds as often as possible. They played in the middle of the living room floor while I sat in an "almost" comfortable chair, carrying on at least five conversations at once.

Fortunately, part of the crowd had cleared out the night before, and we were down to just the kids and kidlets--who all pitched in to make brunch. Even 20 month-old Abby helped by carrying the napkins to the table. It was a much easier day yet my over-taxed joints and muscles still screamed.

I'm thankful that children don't like for us to always make complete sense. We can make a game of messing up words. Brain exercises are supposed to help us stave off dementia. Right ...

The over-achiever in me had kicked in and Fibro and OA had kicked my ass.

I recently wrote a piece for The Writer's Chatroom's blog entitled The Art of Thankfulness, including my beliefs that we draw to us what we believe we deserve. By that, I certainly didn't mean that I believe I deserve to suffer from this never-ending pain. I do believe that I deserve to be surrounded by loving family and friends often, even if the added responsibilities cause more physical pain. I also deserve to continue on as an avid Freecycler, recycling usable goods rather than filling up our landfills, and meeting new friends along the way.

It's difficult to find middle ground most days. I'm fully aware that I must avoid additional stress--even on deadline days. I'm working on getting my writing assignments started earlier. I no longer can hold down a "real" job, yet Social Security remains unconvinced. Every day holds special challenges, and I strive to meet them to the best of my ability at that moment.

Today, I got a phone call from our neighbor who lives far from his own family and is always included in our family events. He had called to let me know how thankful he was to have been able to share in our Thanksgiving.

Sometimes, pushing through the pain is just worth it. Even if ...

Depression is a slippery slide. I try to find at least one thing to be thankful for every day.