Challenges

Taking a look of how my life has been back then to now, I now realize I was a huge hypochondriac when I was younger. (Okay, just a tad now too.) In my twenties I was able to work out every day of the week, drink without really feeling the effects of the hangover the next day and never really understood pain until recently. The only pain I have felt since I was 12 years old was menstrual – which I happen to get severely.

After 30 years old, I started feeling the pangs of getting older. First it started out with my first real experience with back problems. I remember I was in the shower putting hot water on my back, trying to relieve the ‘dull ache’ I had been getting for the past couple of days. When I got out of the shower to put my hair into a towel, BAM!!! That’s when my back gave out on me and I went tumbling over the tub onto the floor. Lying there naked, I screamed out to my girlfriend, “Help! Help! Help!” And thank God she was home that day. She had to remove this very large wet chicken from point A. to point B. I couldn’t move. If I did move it would spasm. If I didn’t move, it still hurt just trying to sit in the perfect spot. This lasted for three months. This also meant I couldn’t work out for three months. My muscle tone got weak and I put on some weight.

Moving on. This year has been especially difficult. From intense menstrual cramps, colds lasting up to one month, asthma and bronchiole problems to dizzy spells, heart palpitations and feeling the effects of the rain. Yes, I think I am developing arthritis! I find myself getting out of bed like a ninety year old. I now have an ice pack in the freezer and tons of creams you would only see in a geriatric home. This isn’t good. I can’t imagine even the thought of pregnancy, but they say that pregnancy does something to a woman in a positive way. For one, it takes away a lot of menstrual cramps. I have no clue why, but this is what I hear. My sisters who have had babies are in better shape now then they ever were! (If Ritalin was involved, I’m sure it would have been a different case.)

Now I could bitch and moan about this, however things could be a hundred times worse. I could be bedridden with some disease or paralyzed. I think of all these amazing physically challenged people who have proven time and time again that their problems don’t stop them from doing the things they love. I watched a family on a documentary who had a daughter without legs. She moved around with only her arms. She climbed on top of counters to get things by herself. She hardly asked for help. Then here I am saying, “Hon, can you grab me a mug from the cabinet?” Right there proves that I take many things for granted.

What about people who walk around with prosthetic legs? They’re excited over the mere fact that they have the ability to be mobile whenever they feel like it. They don’t have to use their wheelchairs all that much. They walk more than the average person sometimes! Then you have me, bitching and moaning about how some guy stole my parking spot that was closest to the handicapped one. Like I can’t walk! If anything, it’ll do me some good!

We have this CVS Pharmacy down the road. The thing that baffles me is they put the handicap parking lots further away from the doors. In front of the doors are regular parking spaces. The first time I pulled up to the pharmacy I thought, “Wow, I got a spot right in front of the store!” Then I looked at the handicapped section and felt like a total shit. Now when I pull up to the store, I park further away out of guilt. Now here’s another baffling thing I’ve noticed. There’s a local pub down the road that has tons of handicapped parking spaces. Aren’t we all physically challenged when walking out of one of these establishments? You have to wonder sometimes!