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Laura Rathbone
I’ve met another astounding and inspiring human working in the complex pain world. This time my hunt for resources finds me in the Netherlands. I’m not physically in the Netherlands (I wish!). It’s where Laura Rathbone lives and does her fantastic work. Laura and I first met when she enquired about using PainTrain My Health Summary. After months of life getting in the way, we finally got to zoom. However, it was nowhere near long enough, and you’ll understand why as I begin to describe Laura’s work. This will be a valuable post for [...]
Say Goodbye to Covid-19 Lockdowns
That would be like me saying ‘goodbye flares’ in my undiagnosed years. You just don’t get to make those decisions when you don’t have explicit knowledge about the beast you are dealing with. And this is where I believe the world is currently with Covid-19 – lost for understanding! There are so many similarities between managing Covid-19 and managing chronic pain. I feel I have some insights to share, but who’s going to listen to a person living with chronic pain for 14 years? What could that possibly have to do with managing a virus? Well, I think my [...]
I Found My Pain Definition in Lockdown
Lockdown time appears to be crucial for pacing back to whole life. Every lockdown has given me a leap of some kind. I genuinely think lockdown together with my spinal cord stimulation has armed me like never before in this 14-year journey. There are moments I'm so comfortable. Of course, it's seconds and minutes, but it's soooooo freeeeeeeing. I 'just' walk over to get something – nothing is restricting me. No fog, no warning signal; it's just me moving in the space. So I can totally focus on what's in front of me, I can hear the quiet, notice the dust and envisage all the things I plan to do.. to the end! It's an uninterrupted dreamy sequence! If memory serves me correctly, this is a typical experience and a sequence that should be totally taken for granted instead of awed. I haven't experienced this before lockdown. EVER. CHECKPOINT: 14 years, 4 months and 21 days (or 5257 or 172 months, 21 days), I have experienced a short uninterrupted sequence of normality.
Dear Victorian State Minister, Daniel Andrews MP
Dear Daniel Andrews MP, It's wonderful to see that your recovery is going well. As a 52-year-old person, I like to think that I live and learn from life experiences. I imagine someone in your position would take that sort of approach also and that with your own living and learning and the experience of Victorians you gather realistic references for your ongoing decision making. Taking this terrible recent accident you have had into account (whether a work injury or not), a horrific pandemic and two reports by the Victorian Ombudsman, I have hope and the expectation that you might be in a position to relate far more to Victorian injured workers (of which I am one) than ever before. Being more specific, can you please consider how you would feel: – being questioned about your injury – being told by an insurance company that the reports about your health from your own medical team do not suffice – having investigators photograph you around your home and day-to-day – being sent to an 'independent medical panel to be reassessed and to prove your injury
A Chat with Robert J. Echenberg, MD (Dr E!)
Wisdom, experience and compassion are all qualities to describe Dr E. Just wait ’til you hear him speak! This extraordinary gentle human has had a very long professional career with the pelvis! Beginning his medical career as an obstetrician and gynecologist in the 50’s, he found himself asking a lot of questions, specifically about how women were expected to manage trauma relating to birth/pregnancy. Dr E has helped bring thousands of little humans into the world, moving into pain management around the time when those little humans began making their own little humans. He has [...]
A Chat With Mandy Mercuri
Mandy and I initially met in 2014 when she sent me an email. Ping, in my inbox just like that! Mandy sent a most inspiring filled message. Aside from her appreciation, Mandy expressed ideas – that caught my attention! At the time I was a bit swamped and had to take a step back from advocacy as I was on the brink of my big life change from city to seaside. Mandy and I reconnected again via PainTrain and now she's on the PainTrain Advisory Board – what more could I have asked for for my [...]