Bone marrow donation part 2

One word for yesterday, OUCH. Yesterday was day 3 of the shots and by far my worst day so far. Out of nowhere my hips started hurting like crazy. I was walking like an old man. I went in to work thinking it would distract me and it did for a while but still, like I said, ouch. Not like the make you cry ouch but a nagging persistent ouch. So, I've been a little frustrated with this whole pain scale thing. They told me if I ever got to a level 3 that I was supposed to call the doctor. Isn't a level 3 like a mild headache? It's still a happy face on the doctor's office smily face chart, right? It just didn't make sense because they tell you up front that it's going to hurt. Needless to say, I manned up and maintained that I was only at a level 2 even though I definitely wasn't smiling yesterday. Just give me a baby aspirin, maybe a flinstone vitamin and I'll be fine because that's how you treat a level 2. So this morning, day 4, I get the paperwork that my friend Brad has been filling out each morning after giving me the shots and I notice something. I notice that the pain scale isn't a scale from 1 to 10, it's a scale from 1 to 4. Well, that makes quite a difference. Here's how they define it; level 1 is mild pain that doesn't interfere with function. I'm thinking that's like a headache or something. Level 2 is moderate pain that does interfere with function but not ADL which is 'activities of daily living'. So a level two means you're in pain and don't really want to do anything but find a comfortable position but you're not in so much pain that it affects ADL like brushing your teeth or eating. Then there's the mighty level 3 which is severe pain severely interfering with ADL. If you make it to a level 3 you don't want to eat, sleep, play monopoly, nothing. You just lay there and sob. NO WONDER they want you to call if you're at a level 3. Level 4 is defined as disabling. I guess that's where you have the paramedics come in and lift you onto the gurny. Now that I've properly defined the pain scale I can safely say that I have not been above a level 2 this whole time. But like I said in the previous blog, I would gladly go through much worse knowing that this small sacrifice could save someone's life. I think about the patient a lot. I know it sounds a little twisted, but it makes all this much easier to handle knowing that she's going through a lot worse right now. My thoughts and prayers are with her and her family.