Introduction & Early Stages

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September 2005

Tuesday, September 13, 2005

It wasn’t long before my life of relative pain free (but never ache-free) walking disappeared before my eyes. That time was last Friday, as I stepped off a curb incorrectly and aggravated my bad knee. I immediately returned to a world of pain every step – the world I had remembered oh too well. In many ways it felt good because it reminded me of how good life had been in the last few months.

As of late I have been exercising, albeit not eating the healthiest food but making an effort to take vitamins and drink lots of water, and my relative pain level subsided noticeably. I had been going day-to-day with a low background humming ache associated with a set of third-rate knees and hips. The way a used car gets you from point A to point B – not comfortably but safely – is the way my knees, hips and lower back have gotten me around. But that one step off the curb derailed all of my progress and put me right back in the junk yard.

Enough with the analogies. Hopefully things will settle down. While I’m in Kansas City I’ll have Dr. Schertzinger – the Arthritis Huddle physician – do a quick dinnertime inspection and tell me what’s up. Kind of like the way Joe Namath had his bad knee inspected at the restaurant the night of his signing with the Jets. Maybe we have more in common than I had expected.

Tuesday, September 27, 2005

It’s been a hectic few weeks of travel, and it’s taking a major toll on my body. We have been traveling to events, conferences and meetings in Sweden, Denmark and throughout the U.S. virtually non-stop, with only a few chances to change clothes and freshen up with a dose of home-cooked food. And my back can’t take it. I guess you can drop a pun here because it’s “back-to-basics”.

However, of all the people I’ve met in the last few weeks, the most exciting has definitely been the Queen of Sweden. She was the keynote speaker of a medical conference in Stockholm last week, and as she walked in and looked at my name tag I say “hi” and she nodded hello back. So I suppose “meeting” might be a strong word to use in this case, but it was still quite exciting. She was very elegant, very proper but had no accompanying fanfare (or even a crown), except an armored Mercedes and a few men not interested in chit-chat. Until now the only queen I’ve ever been around has been, of course, my dear mother. Who, by the way, accompanied by some thugs and chauffeured in a Mercedes, could be just as elegant and just as regal.

But what’s happening to my body is very interesting. I am getting aches and pains in one part of my back which is gnawing at me all day long. Even as I write this. Or in the shower. Or in bed. All day I am being reminded that I should be slowing down a little, taking it easy, exercising and paying more attention to my body. The minute I have more than 36 hours of time in New York, I think I need to see a pain management specialist. Because if this isn’t a need for pain management….

The worst part about having chronic pain like this is that even when it’s not around – and I have a few minutes rest in a comfortable position – it’s like a bad pimple that only takes one glance in the mirror to remember. And so it goes, after ten minutes of sitting in a comfortable position, I’m thrown back into a slump with a bad ache and a sore back.

On days like today, this Prince ain’t smiling.