Just keeps getting better ...

Have you ever wondered just what impact pain can have on your body?

I don't mean in the sense of the immediate pain that you feel at the point of the injury.

I'm talking about the overall effect that pain can have on other systems of the body.

For instance, prior to having my left hip replaced, I lived and breathed pain.

I didn't know what it was not to have pain.

Everywhere.

And nothing worked.

My eyes were a particular challenge as my eye doctor struggled to provide me with corrective lenses to meet my ever changing vision.

I saw my eye doctor this morning and she is delighted.  The same prescription she gave me three months ago is actually working better for me now than it did then.

As she put it, "We're sort of doing our own mini-report here on the effect of pain on eyesight."  The only explanation she can give for the improvement is my lack of pain.

I have to agree with her.

On the drive to the appointment, John and I had discussed that very point.  He had asked me if I had noticed a decline in my eyesight again (since that had been the pattern).  When I told him that in fact the opposite was true this time, we started analysing the possible reasons for the change.

And the only thing I could think of was:  Since my hip was replaced, everything about me has improved.  I have no pain whatsoever (other than the tell-tale pain from the surgery, which will be gone altogether before too much longer). Perhaps the lack of pain is now allowing my eyes to function properly.

It would seem my eye doctor reached the same conclusion.

Because since my left hip was replaced, I have no pain.

Anywhere.

And everything works.  (For the record, I take no painkillers and have taken nothing since two weeks post op.)

Last night, I again slept on my left side.  And woke this morning after eight and a half hours of restful sleep.

Without pain.

Without stiffness.

What a joy!

In the absence of any other explanation, I have to accept that the replacement of my hip has had a profound impact on my overall health.

I'll take it.