The need for toughened glass
Crap happens in life but it’s how you’re treated when the crap happens that makes a difference and helps you manage as best you can. I’m not talking about chronic pain in this post but rather my treatment by the [...]
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My dog’s breakfast is proving to be quite a serve of offal
A never-ending feast in fact (if such food takes your fancy)! It is the eve of my appointment at the Medical Panels. Tomorrow I will see the 12th lot of medical practitioners and the 8th lot of psychiatrists that I’ve had [...]
My life as it is within Workers’ Compensation – it’s a dog’s breakfast
In my current state of bewilderment, this may be the best way I can describe my life as it is today. I shouldn’t bag a dog’s breakfast, as unlike that which the workers’ compensation system has dished out to me – a [...]
Time to exercise – but how?
It took six full months for me to feel I was ready to have my follow up appointment with Dr Nick Christelis after my Sacral Stimulation Implant. I got a few ticks at the appointment: Device incision healed Leads incision [...]
Who am I going to be – Soula ‘a’, ‘b’ or ‘c’?
My new stim’s changed everything. I’m grateful. Can you imagine if the whole process (from trial to permanent implant) hadn’t change anything? In addition to the stim changing everything, I’m living a whole new life that Theo and I attempted [...]
Drug dependency lessons from Pharma ads and my two mothers
I can’t stand TV as it hurts to sit or lie back and watch but recently, while tuning in to one of the very few shows I do watch, I caught a message from a Pharmaceutical (Pharma) advertisement about pain [...]
I made a gallery
True! Theo and I made a huge life move as many of you have read. Our transition began over a year ago when we escaped to Tasmania to figure out how to manage life with [...]
Back on the treatment trail
So someone got talking to someone on a plane (you know how that story goes, your eyes begin to glaze over because you're in pain thinking 'if this friend tells me I need to meet someone and sustain a new friendship, I'm going to punch him' - but in the end, it works out that you wished you had sat next to that someone on the plane, and you meet that person and you wished you had met them a very long time ago (like eight years ago for me).
Commitment, sacrifice and granting myself the right permissions
Last week, I attended my last acupuncture appointment and for the first time in over seven years, am therapist free. Hang on, I have to just repeat that: I am therapist free Did I ever think this day would come? Of course I did and I believe that's why I am here. I have had my moments, but what I didn't realise through all that heat and whilst pacing like a snail, was that each flare up and pain episode was actually not an indication that pain was here to stay, but rather that it was actually beginning to leave. Although just a difference of minutes initially, eventually I felt the flare ups spreading further apart. And with recognising that change and NOT increasing my capacity past a snail's shell weight, I began to make progress.
Yet Another Comedy of Errors: Act III, the Outcome
But we are grateful to the Conciliator and to WorkCover Assist who helped me to show that through Theo’s and my own initiative I have created my work position. Had we not done this I would have remained in receipt of full compensation payments and Theo could have found a job. Theo was allowed to explain the printmaking process to the VWA-appointed Agent (K) and to point out that it was impossible for me to undertake this task without significant assistance, as was the case for the creation of my book and for my daily work and living. However, their support, although most welcome, failed to make any impression on K or his successor, X. The roles of the Conciliator and WorkCover Assist in this comedy have been reduced to the pointless exercise of pushing pieces of paper around.