Pain Scale: Physical and Emotional

The results are in! I still have brain damage! However, the MRI and MRA procedures I had last Friday show that my brain images are just the same as a year ago. That is good news!

The bad news is I still have neck pain since the rear-end collision I experienced last January. Despite PT, X-Rays, and very rough brain scans I have pain.

In the hospital after my strokes, nurses posted a “pain scale” for me to describe my pain level. At that point, I needed the chart because I could not talk.

During my PT because of the rear-ender, one of my therapists asked about my pain. I said, “In the hospital after my massive stroke, the doctor had to insert a port into my heart. That pain was a 10. It was awful!”

The PT is helping. Nevertheless, I still get some sharp shooting pains.

I sometimes wonder if the neck pain will just be there forever.

I have also considered that I am getting older. Is the neck pain the result of the collision or being 55 years old?

Years ago, my doctor saw me for some ache or pain. I was describing my pain.

He smirked, and said, “Well, you are 40 now. Your body will get more aches and pains. It is just life and being older.”

I use the pain scale often because of the PT and otherwise. It is handy to describe all sorts of pain.

The loud banging noise during MRI’s and MRA’s are about a 7.

The sharp shooting pain because of the collision varied from 3 to 9 or 10.

The actual first stroke on the pain scale was pretty minor. However, the migraines the lead up to the strokes were about an 8.

Just doing this blog typing in my home office, my upper back is painful…about a 7.

That is just the actual pain in my shoulder and neck.

In my brain, the internal pain is getting more profound. The concentration I need to type gets worse as I go.

Preparing for and attending meetings is the same concept. My pain when I start doing any actively is about 2 or 3. I also have some pain. Again, I am getting older. Throughout an activity – especially when I have to speak and/or think a lot – my threshold of pain decreases exponentially. By the end of a long meeting, my pain is about 8 or 9.

The next day, I am exhausted and have to sleep a long time. That next day, the pain can be a 9 or a 10.

I do think I have a high pain tolerance. I also believe I have a high pain tolerance for emotions, stamina, persistence, and patience.

However, I do have some limits. I am testing my limits because of this man rear-ended me. Certainly, his insurance is covering the basic stuff.

Yet, wearing my old Economist major hat, my “opportunity cost” is getting exorbitant. What is “opportunity cost?”

“Unlike most costs discussed in economics, an opportunity cost is not always a number. The opportunity cost of any action is simply the next best alternative to that action - or put more simply, ‘What you would have done if you didn't make the choice that you did.’”

In other words, I am just tired of using my limited financial and brain capacity to deal with this situation. I have to drive, use gas, use MY time, miss other things, etc.

HIS choices have left ME know choices.

I am pissed off with a headache and back pain. Not a good combination.

The Two Faces of the American Dream

The massive wave of Norwegian immigration to Minnesota from the 1850s through the early 20th century wasn't a casual choice; it was an escape from crushing land scarcity and economic desperation. My ancestors, the Dunhams, arrived in 1851 and built a life in Otter Tail County in Minnesota. My great-great-grandfather, Jens Christian Dunham, didn’t just survive—he thrived. He served in the Minnesota legislature as a Republican from 1888 to 1890 and later became a staunch advocate for President Teddy Roosevelt. He was the literal embodiment of the American Dream: an immigrant who fled poverty to become a lawmaker in his new home. Fast forward a century, and a new wave of immigrants—this time from Somalia—is following that exact same blueprint. Like the Norwegians before them, they fled hardship to build a future in Minnesota, and many have run for office to serve the state that welcomed them. Yet, the political rhetoric surrounding these two groups couldn't be more polarized. Don...

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Eye floaters, Strokes, Another ER visit….

It is always something.... I’ve had eye floaters for as long as I can remember. My paternal grandmother had them. My brothers have them too. They’ve always been part of my vision—little drifting specks, threads, and shadows moving across my sight. Over time, you learn to live with them. Sometimes they swirl around, sometimes they settle toward the bottom of your vision, and most of the time you simply ignore them. Floaters are actually tiny clumps inside the eye that cast shadows on the retina. They’re common as we age, especially after fifty, and usually they’re harmless. Doctors will tell you that most people eventually tune them out. But sometimes they change. On Wednesday, while we were driving home from an overnight trip, something felt different. It was my left eye. The floaters suddenly looked darker, heavier, and there were flashes of light along the edge of my vision—almost like a bright crescent moon flickering on and off. At first, I tried to ignore it. After everything ...

Dunham Family and My Stroke Story!

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