I Blame Basketball!!

I started out in life as a tomboy, studied to be an athlete, and excelled to the honorable rank of "coach".  Sports is just a way of life for me ... period.  I have an athlete's mentality to keep pushing through the pain and the coach's mentality to stop when I know that I've pushed too much (um ... usually).  Put them both together and you have, what I like to call, jock-brain!!  I really do believe that this was the universe providing me with the Basic Training for my destiny with RSD.  

One of the most painful things to do, while living with RSD, is stress out!!!  And it doesn't matter what the reason is for stressing, stress always makes the pain worse.  I wish that I could say that I have a physical reason for this extra pain today (morbid but true), but the truth of the matter is that it's March Madness and most of these basketball games have put my knickers in a twist to the point of it manifesting into physical pain.  Woo Hoo!!  Yay RSD!!!  (can't you just hear my sarcasm dripping??)

Let's see if I can find an accurate way to explain this to the Normies ...

Imagine a frayed, downed power line.  You know how the electrical current causes the wires to flop and fly all over the place?  And you know how everything to which the exposed electricity comes into contact gets fried?  Well, imagine that that downed line is inside your body, flopping and flying around.  Everything that the electricity bounces around and hits, ie: muscles, veins, skin, tendons, joints, bones, and organs get zapped.  It's shocking, it's jolting, but it bounces around and usually doesn't stick around in one area for very long.  (Remember, I'm a Full Body RSDer.  For those who are only affected in 1 or 2 areas, there are not many other places for the downed line to flop.)

Now factor in any amount of stress.  For this explanation, I am using the benign (haha) example of being a sports nut.  (I consider things like life, death, health, money, school, and work to be malignant examples.  But I'm really not in the mood to completely freak out the Normies, so I'm going with the "benign" example.)  When a person begins to stress, they tense up their muscles ... RSDers are no different.  Tensing up is like someone stepping on the downed electric line.  The taut part of the line is controlled but the excess is still flopping around.  For instance (because this is what's going on inside my body right this minute), like I said earlier, I am a Full Body RSDer.  When my downed line flops, it can bounce around into both legs, both arms, my back, my tookis, my hips, my shoulders, my neck, my organs ... anywhere!!  When I stress, I tense up and the downed line gets pinned to one area.  Today it's my right lower leg.  The normal aches and burns are still present everywhere else, but the zapping becomes contained to my leg.  There's less room for bouncing around in my leg than there is in my body, so the downed line flops, flies, hits, and zaps at a faster rate.  It's annoying as $%&*!!!  (sorry Mom!!)

And today I blame Basketball!!!!!!!!!!  There have been some upsets that have done way more harm than just upsetting me!!  Gonzaga ... really???  I had you guys going to the friggin finals!!!!!  Georgetown ... seriously???  Who in the sam-hill-heck is Florida Gulf Coast??  Indiana, what in the hell happened to you??  Miami ... you were not the team that I'd heard raves about all season!!!  Buffs, you know I love you but I was dumb and picked you to go to the Elite 8 because my heart wanted it!!  My only saving grace right now is the team of whom I've been a pretty hardcore fan since 1973, because that's my earliest recollection.  I was 4 and my mom, my dad, and I lived in Lawrence, Kansas ... 3 blocks from the KU campus.  When I was 5 my parents took me to the Big 8 Championship in KC.  I fell in love with the sport on that trip and I have been a March Maniac ever since.

I hate what stress does to my body, but I love sports!!  Since I can't have one without the other, I have to pick my battles, so I have chosen NCAA Basketball and Football, Professional Football, and Volleyball.  I chose to give up the NHL, the NBA, Golf, Soccer, and Baseball.  Don't get me wrong, I'll still go to games or matches and cheer for my faves, but I won't stress out about it or watch it on tv.  If, at some point, I choose to pick up one of my deleted sports, I'll have to sacrifice one of my already chosen sports.  It's hard to change gears, but I've done it before, I can do it again!!  (I traded the NHL for NCAA Football 12 years ago.)

I have faith that as soon as I'm done posting this blog, I will curl up on my sofa surfboard and wrap my leg in heating pads to try and ease those muscles that have pinned down my internal downed line.  I have faith that by the time the Jayhawks take to the court tonight, I will have controlled my pain levels so that I can hop around and scream at the officials and throw tantrums if/when the boys miss their 3's.  I have faith that Withey will provide me with some blocked shots that send me jumping for joy.  I have faith that as soon as March Madness is over is I can focus on my upcoming bi-annual Ketamine nerve blocks in April.  And I have faith that my jock-brain will continue to benefit me in my constant battle against the beast that is RSD!!