Is it worth having something really wrong to be able to say I was really right?

Before I saw my new doctor I didn't know what to hope for. Did I want him to back up my first orthopod and reassure me pain would lessen and range of motion would improve given enough time?Would an MRI and a CT scan vindicate me? Would I have documented evidence of my pain?  Or horrors, would they confirm an unspoken conviction that I was being a drama queen? The worst thing was that conviction was unspoken by me! What if I really was being a wimp about this?

Pain is such a subjective thing. Now everyone asks you to rank your pain on a scale from one to ten, ten being the worst. I hope I never experience the worst pain. Certainly I have not yet so how do I compare what I am experiencing to it? And it's really hard to conjure up past pain no matter how bad it was at the time. If we could, surely there would be no second babies conceived.

Research into classifying pain by facial expression has led to "The Painful Face-Pain Expression Recognition Using Active Appearance Models" study, using appropriately enough patients with rotator cuff injuries. While our physicians might have a hard time accurately interpreting our discomfort by a grimace, a squint or a scowl, a computer program will objectively assess our pain level based on a data bank of human pain expressions. Honestly, do I grit my teeth in pain more if someone is watching me try to hang up my bath towel?  When we call the boss to say we are sick and won't be in today don't we all try to sound just a little more pathetic? Would we be able to fool the software program as easily as we did our moms when we wanted to stay home from school?

I just know my arm hurts a lot less since Dr. Kai said he could now see why it hurts so much. Sympathy is a powerful force.

Willet