Friday, May 9, 2025, 46*
Four varieties of warblers, a Goldfinch and an Ovenbird greeted us later this cool grey morning. My hand has gone past nausea (on my pain scale) to almost fainting. Pain scales are posted in medical facilities, so the patient can figure out by color and number how much pain they feel. I’ve never seen one that ended with a smiley face screaming. Charts tell us nothing about a specific patient’s tolerance or how much pain it takes to make their blood pressure drop.
Perhaps doctors use flow charts; they plug in numbers; a time-saver instead of listening to the patient they have less than 15 minutes to treat. There aren’t enough doctors or nurse practitioners. This is corporate (not modern) medicine – by the numbers. After all, what does a patient know of unbiased analysis; they have the subjective information, years of knowledge of their own body.
Choose One: no pain; minimal; mild; uncomfortable; tolerable; distracting; distressing; unmanageable; intense; unbearable; unable to move.
Perhaps you’d rather choose a color: blue, green, yellow, orange, red.
He gives power to the tired and worn out, and strength to the weak.
Even the youths shall be exhausted, and the young men will all give up.
But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength.
They shall mount up with wings like eagles;
they shall run and not be weary;
they shall walk and not faint.
Isaiah 40:29-31 Living Bible
ART: LJ Austin
