I kinda decided to go back and try to explain as best as possible how miserable my body is at this very moment. Then I’ll do my best to take you back to how my pain got started, past injuries, and how the lack of proper care and preventive measures from army doctors got me to the point that I’m presently at.
If I weren’t actually living with the number of body aches and pains that I am, I would not be able to explain to you the discomfort and misery that I’m experiencing. I would not be able to explain to you how I believe if the military would have taken my injuries more seriously, treated me, done preventive treatments, and educated me, I would not be as bad off as I am.
I am going to explain to you how military doctors diagnosed me with several different conditions throughout my sixteen-year career but failed to show the nexus between the initial injuries, future injuries, and symptoms over the years. There were even diagnoses that I didn’t know about until recently. I will explain to you how I believe some of my illnesses and injuries came to be, and how the lack of true interest on behalf of the military and VA doctors to find out has left me with many diagnoses and never-ending aches and pains.
I am so full of personal medical stories that I believe at least one person will be helped by my sharing my injuries, how I believe some of them happened, suggestions, and recommendations for you to consider for you and your loved ones. There are so many things that I’ve learned over the years about injuries and illnesses, and possible preventive measures. When we learn better, then we can share and do better.
Lastly, before I dive into the meat of the story, I want to inform you that my goal is to also use the majority of the information that I share with you to create an ebook. I want this information to hopefully fall into the right hands of a medical professional who has the power to consider introducing this information to medical personnel of the United States Armed Forces as well as to all Veteran Administration Medical facilities. When this ebook is finalized and published, it’ll be immediately offered to all of my WordPress followers, my followers & referrals across all of my online platforms, and to all of those on my email lists across my online platforms.
PROPER EQUIPMENT!!!
I cannot stress how important it is to start any project, event, career, side hustle, sport, or any activity, especially physical activities with the proper equipment. I especially want all parents to pay close attention to this recommendation because it could save their children from various injuries, aches, and pains as they grow older. Even if your child isn’t participating in any physical activities throughout their lifetime, it is still very important for them to have the proper type of shoes for everyday activities, such as walking, learning to walk, constant standing, and simple everyday growth.
Just in case you need a little incentive to encourage you to adhere to the above recommendation, take the time to read one of my personal stories.
In the fall of 1986, while stationed overseas at Mannheim, Germany, I started what turned out to be 30+ years of officiating various sports, at various levels, from children to adults. My very first sport to officiate was basketball (adult men). I had no idea what I was doing, but this all got started from a challenge I was given. By the way, if I had it to do all over again, I would probably get started on the child level of sports, or adult slow-pitch softball. Believe me, officiating is not for everybody.
So, I joined the basketball association first. I was given a list of things that I had to get before I could actually call my first scrimmage game. I needed black slacks, a striped referee shirt, a whistle with a lanyard, black socks, a black jacket (optional), and lastly, a black athletic type shoe. I don’t remember all of the details about me purchasing my basketball uniform, but I do remember explicitly going to the Base Exchange to purchase my very first pair of officiating shoes. The memory is so strong because I had looked at other sports officials’ shoes when they officiated games and I knew I had to up my standards. I had to have a pair of black athletic shoes that could produce a high glossy kiwi shine. And so I did. Man, everybody complimented my uniform, especially my high glossy kiwi black athletic shoes.
If only I had known then, what I know now. Instead of me thinking about the safety, care, and concern of my feet, I was focused more on the high glossy shine of my shoe. So, I got started with a $10-12 pair of shoes. It got to the point that I was pretty good at what I was doing, and I was having a ball. I started getting assigned games every time a gym was open for competitive competition. I remember getting to the point of refereeing 3-4 games during the week for three days, and if there was a scheduled basketball tourney on any weekend, I could very well end up with anywhere from 10- 20 assigned games, in my $10-12 high glossy athletic shoes.
The moral of this story is, I now have had Plantar Fasciitis (both feet), since the mid-’90s, which eventually affected other areas of my body. It all started with my r-foot, and before I knew it, both feet were highly affected. I eventually got to the point that it felt like broken glass or thumbtacks every morning when I first hit the floor, and my feet continued to hurt every day, all day, as long as I was on them. Now they just hurt all of the time, but much more when I’m on them.
If it’s you, a friend, or a loved one, be sure to spend a couple more dollars on any and all needed equipment, for any and all performed activities (including walking). If you have a child(ren), start them off with quality shoes from their very first pair, and throughout their lives.
In addition to both feet constantly hurting, every joint on my body hurt from time to time, with it being almost every joint at the same time in most cases now. My body is never without pain. No matter what activities I do throughout the day now, cause me some type of ache, pain, or discomfort. I also suffer from Migraine Headaches, Lumbar and Cervical Stenosis, extreme pain in both shoulders (with radiating pain and tingling from the neck down into the arms), Irritable Bowel Syndrome (both diarrhea and constipation dominant), GERD (gastroesophageal reflux disease), Chronic Sinusitis, Internal Hemorrhoids, Chronic Prostatitis, Sciatica (both legs), Tinnitus (both ears), Depression, and Anxiety.
The most nagging, painful, uncomfortable, and miserable part of my body now, is my left wrist, due to Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. I have already had surgery on my right hand, and it hasn’t fully healed, so I can’t have surgery on my left hand yet. I can still do some things using my left hand, but I am gradually losing the use of it. On one occasion I picked up a blanket using both hands and didn’t do anything unusual, but because of the position of my left hand, it sent a pain through my wrist that was almost to the point of me passing out. A similar situation happened one night while I was sleeping. I turned to change positions and grabbed the blanket the wrong way, and again, the pain was so excruciating that I could only hold my wrist and grimace until it passed. My left wrist is by far the most consistently painful part of my body at this present time.
As you can probably tell by now that that is a nice list of things that affect me during the course of my day every day. Again, the best way for me to describe my situation is “Misery.”
Stay connected for future posts and recommendations.
WERBETTER2GETHER