A Poem for a Pain Revolution

I presented this the San Diego Pain Summit 2017 — and ode to the people that we partner with to reclaim their life from chronic pain. We’re starting a Pain Revolution in how we talk about pain, and help people recover.

You Came

You come to me in the clinic

Your pain follows along, like an old, greying dog

All days are dog days

Heavy legs, heavy heart, heavy life

Moving hurts too much you tell me, it’s just not worth the pain

Living life hurts too much you tell me, it’s just not worth the pain

You come to me in the clinic

Scans and reports piled high

Audibly you plop the bag of weighty evidence at my feet

On balance and careful measure, all things considered, the jury say surgery is your only option

That disc is damaged, degenerated, desiccated, deranged

“If they fix the disc, they’ll fix the pain” you say, eyes bright

I feel like your big sister with the truth about Santa Claus.

You come to me in the clinic

Yellow flags waving at me from across the waiting room

Like Tibetan prayers with a mantra of catastophize, catastophize, catastophize

As you carefully and gingerly plan and execute a highly technical sit to stand maneuver, those flags wave from the sacred walls of your strong castle.

Holding up your understanding of why today, like all days, is excruciating.

“I’ve got my Mum’s back, you see, it’s genetic, this pain”

When you let us peer in to your world, together we can find a way back

There are those who are left behind.

For them, it’s time for a Revolution

One pedal stroke after another, it’s a lycra-clad uprising

Out of the lab and in to the Bush, out among the gum trees

These are people out there who’s pain lies barely hidden in lives of quiet struggle

Valiant battles against knives in their backs and crumbling knees

Keeping them from their work, their friends and their dreams

We are coming TO you

We are coming FOR you

We are coming WITH you

Because you don’t come to us anymore.