Can Laughter and Pain blend?

During my early days of Pain, there was nothing to Laugh about-my body was being taken on a ride that I wanted to say Stop and Let Me Off-Now!  If anybody had suggested to me how a good chuckle could make me feel better-I am afraid my answer would be filled with Anger at their suggestion-and chances are it would have taken me a Long time to ever speak with them again.

Laughter and Pain-this subject has been on my mind quite a bit and I wanted to do a "comical" posting of sorts with the hope I could put some Laughter into the Pot with Pain, but fear rises in me about saying these words-lets be honest-I do Not walk in the shoes of another person who suffers each day with Chronic Pain and No strange faces have shown up here to spend time with me as I fight with Pain.  If I were to hurt someone by speaking words to sound light-hearted and the countless faces out there who are in agony- might read my words one day-only to see the word Laughter-I feel they would curse me for daring to offer an idea of Pain and Laughter blending.

Chronic Pain tightens our bodies-getting us to a place where everything just Hurts-you don't even know for sure which muscle hurts more-and all you want to do is Sob.  I have been there-and for a long time I chose the other path-Anger, actually a rage that made the  Pain worse!  My Pain doctor speaks to me often about Stress-explaining the importance of me keeping my Stress level to a low hum if at all possible.  She knows better than anyone that my Pain is not going away-and how vital it is for me to find pieces of courage to push myself forward. But this is real life and with the daily amount of Pain she sees each day in her patients-how she must struggle to keep her chin up and keep offering words of hope to each of her patients. 

When I let myself think about laughter- it sounds nice-not easy to do-but it does have a gentle ring to it and suddenly I have found myself actually laughing about something-and it stops me in my tracks!  My brain is trying to process the Sound I just heard-with me thinking there has to be somebody else in the room because I do not laugh much, but I finally admit it-the person laughing was Me!

So I am stepping out and speaking for myself-as I say Pain and Laughter can blend at times, its usually very short, not lasting long but at least it tells me I still have that delicious emotion sitting deep inside me and Pain has not drained all the laughter from me.  My journey with Pain is going to be a long one-I know that better than anyone, and the decisions I make as to how I choose to cope with the Pain-will either help me or give Pain the chance to make faster moves against my body, making me feel much older than I actually am.

I miss the days when laughter filled my heart-a very dear friend asked me a question, wanting to know how long Pain had been with me-He was wanting numbers and while I knew the exact number of years, my heart was racing backward, seeing all the pieces of a joyous life-slowly taken from me as Pain grew stronger by the day  and my life became a path of surgery, recovery, surgery, shots, surgery, infections, surgery.  You see the picture.  Sixteen years is the magic number and I have a lot more to go-I pray God gives me many more years so I can grow old with my husband, and something tells me, I will still have a bit of laughter left in me.

Do not let anybody judge you if laughter is beyond your grasp-this is your personal walk with Chronic Pain and I think each person who suffers is a Warrior and is filled with deep courage and faith.  If you do find a moment to laugh, God bless you.  HE will show that moment, and HE will lighten the Pain for the few seconds you get to laugh.

Keep fighting and know, I will always say a prayer for you-because we are not Strangers, there is a true Bond that unites us.  God Be with you.  Martha