Indicators

There is a mom out there that I just marvel at her ability to cope with terror. How many times had I gone to work and have heard about someone's child getting burned, stitches or broken bones? Too many times, I had taken my own stories of the days' escapades and injuries to others. It's just a normal mom debriefing. Kids will get hurt. They will experience pain. We just have to hope every day that it is not fatal. Many times we would even say, "Well, they'll never do THAT again!" with exasperation.
Pain from the hot stove makes our children move their hand. Pain from the ankle makes our child tell a teacher. Pain is a luxury this other mom does not have. There are actually a couple of moms out there dealing with congenital insensitivity to pain with anhidrosis. (CIPA).. This sounds like a dream at first. A child that does not cry out with every little scratch and scrape. One child rubbed her eyes so much that one of them had to be removed and the other has been severely damaged. It did not hurt when she was scratching and rubbing her own eye. She also bit her own tongue and fingers severely. Pain is a warning sign, and indicator to stop and recoil from heat. Pain is a necessary teaching tool.
I am blogging about this today, because I know several people who are in physical pain. I have been in pretty bad pain before also. I have also complained. I'm not shooting for sainthood here, I've even complained since I found out about this condition many years ago.
My own mother has had the most extreme opposite I can imagine. She was diagnosed with RSD (Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy.) It was such a bizarre experience as my mom has an incredibly high pain tolerance. I had taken her to the hospital with broken ribs, broken wrist...never saw much more than a wince, so when she actually complained that she was in pain, I went with her to the tests... Her MRI was just incredible. Nerve cells had taken over her foot. There were millions and millions more than there should have been and each of them were sending an SOS signal of pain to her brain constantly. Fortunately, she was seeing one of the most renowned physicians in the country to treat this disorder, so she was in remission after several months.
So, occassionally pain lies to us, as in my mom's situation. Either way, we should pay attention. It is trying to tell us something. It's message might be "STOP IT" or "SLOW DOWN" or "You are NOT 17 anymore". It's message might be, "get your body to a specialist" as in my mom's case. In any case, although it is not the most pleasant gift, pain is indeed a gift.
Usually, I have been able to see pain as a means to an end, as I have been fortunate that most of my pains have been in healing from something else painful. I have been able to look at is as something transient. I am ever hopeful that for those in constant pain and for those who don't feel pain, that there is a cure. Not a cure from pain, but for the necessary balance so that we can trust the signs.
For a short video about CIPA, please see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6t7E8wjprJE