Facing Blunt Reality of Having RSD

I made the appointment, grudgingly, to see a Pain Management Specialist that was only 30 miles from my home. I was driving my son to Dallas, which was 80 miles away, but that was typical of me. I would always do more and go to further lengths for my kids than for myself.  My youngest daughter accompanied me, along with my husband. The doctor pronounced that I had "causalgia", an old, rather outdated term for RSD, type II, meaning I had RSD with a nerve injury. He wanted to start by giving me a steroid injection in my ankle to try to help with the scar tissue. After he did so, I told him firmly that he would never do that again without sedating me first! He agreed to that. It's a good thing because I admit I had some slightly violent thoughts about him while he administered the shots. Pain will do that to me.

The shots did relieve some of my pain, and I did not take the hydrocodone that he prescribed. I went about my business of walking the tightrope working mothers always walk. Only my tightrope was a little longer than some because I had a child with RSD going through the usual rituals that they go through at school, with doctors...but that was another story. This happens to be about me and my RSD.

   When I turned to the hectic life of being a Realtor, listing properties for sellers, searching for the right home for buyers, I thought that my cane and limp might work to my advantage. In my fantasy world, folks would sympathize with me, seeing what I had to overcome, just to go to work every day. My fantasy world came to an abrupt halt on the day I was showing homes to a couple, and I failed to see a step down to the driveway. I landed on my right foot, hard, and felt searing, excruciating pain that felt like it travelled straight up the bone in my calf. I let out a small yelping sound, and talked myself out of fainting. The couple never seemed to notice what had happened, continuing to question me about the house. Little did they know how difficult it was for my to press the gas pedal and brake as I drove them from house to house that day...and for many more.