Monday, October 05, 2009

Chi-chi!

Shoulder update. I'll be seeing a physical therapist today. I've filled out about eight pages of questionnaire. I can't help but think of a medical joke my friend Laura once told me, where some explorers were captured and given the choice between "Chi-chi" or death; the last explorer -- after listening to the horrific screams of his fellow explorers who have chosen Chi-chi -- chooses death. The final line is the leader of the captors exclaiming, "He chose death. But first... Chi-chi!" I think the humor has something to do with western medicine's methodology. After reading Jay Lake's posts on PT, I think "Chi-chi!" will be one of the least likely things I'll be saying while my arm is getting manipulated.

In slightly related news, I decided that the shoulder meds I was taking were making me too loopy for the amount of sleep they were supposedly giving me. The first few days they really did help me to sleep mostly through the night, but I must have gotten used to them because I started waking up in the middle of the night. So I've stopped taking them, and I can feel my short-term memory returning. Man, I am so thankful I don't have really chronic pain -- I'd hate to spend decades in a medicated haze.

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