Zapppppp

Back in 2009 I had rotator cuff surgery.
Well, rotator cuff and bicep reattachment.

I'm sure you've heard about how painful shoulder surgery is. I'm here to tell you, everything you've read about it is meaningless compared to the actual critter.
Although the pain has long since faded, and the scars are tiny little white lines, the memory of the agony will probably never go away.

The ACL replacement was worse.
I've never felt anything so horrible.
For weeks.

Of course they didn't listen to me when I told them it wasn't right. By the time I got someone to listen and do an MRI, it was too late.

Part of my hamstring was taken to form a new ACL. Big old holes drilled in my knee, an extra large calcium based screw was added, none of it worked.

The graft failed.

Now there's nothing but bone in both knees.
No cartilage in either one. The right knee had to do a whole lot of extra work while I was laid up and recovering, and that one's been operated on, too.

I've been walking around on ruined knees for ten goddamn years.

I still send wishes that are literally dripping with hatred to the fuckfaced asshole work comp lawyer  (aka the man in the smeg-colored suit) and his ship of morally bankrupt fools whose job it is to shit on injured workers. Of course it's just my opinion that he is a fuckfaced asshole. He may actually be the Mother Theresa of work comp lawyers.

Can you imagine? Their only job is to further harm people who have already been hurt. They work really hard at it and they make a metric fuckton of money.

They make their living hurting people.

Much like politicians.

So yeah. I hurt all the time. I'm not alone, I know.
Many have it much, much worse. I'm grateful that I can still work and do stuff.

But right now, it's windy. It often is out here in the mouth of the gorge.
I'm not terribly fond of wind, it agitates me for some reason.

Also, when it's windy, my pain levels are much worse. Not enough aspirin and other stuff in the universe on some days. And if it's under 40 degrees and windy, it's really bad.

Even that is interesting, though. You know how I always say that everything is educational, right? It really is.

Which is why I have developed this theory.

You know your body runs on electricity, right?
You're nothing but a big battery.
Several interesting articles out there.
Google was helpful in my little search.

From this article:

Electricity is everywhere, even in the human body. Our cells are specialized to conduct electrical currents. Electricity is required for the nervous system to send signals throughout the body and to the brain, making it possible for us to move, think and feel.

So, how do cells control electrical currents?

The elements in our bodies, like sodium, potassium, calcium, and magnesium, have a specific electrical charge. Almost all of our cells can use these charged elements, called ions, to generate electricity.
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I had months of physical therapy for both of those big injuries.
One of the more interesting and least-painless parts of therapy involved the use of a thing called an Acuscope.

It was explained to me briefly pre-surgery, and a couple weeks later after I'd been sliced and diced, the topic came up again.

Shawn, the PT guy, wheeled a big cart into the treatment room, plugged in the machine and asked, "Do you remember how this works?"

I told him that the human body runs on electricity. And that healthy tissue has a very specific electronic signature. When you hook up the acuscope, the electrodes that are attached where the healthy tissue is pick up that signature and mimic it in the injured tissue which is between the other electrodes. The idea is that the injured tissue will electronically change while the correct frequency is applied and eventually heal, hopefully faster than it would have otherwise.

He stared at me.
I thought I'd said something wrong or incredibly stupid.
So I said, "What?"
He said he had therapists on his staff that wouldn't have been able to explain it so well.
Apparently that was intended to be complimentary.

I do think the Acuscope was helpful in the healing process.

Okay, so back to my theory.

Have you ever seen a video of a big spark jumping between someone's hand and a vehicle door? Or a spark in the middle of the night when you're adjusting your blankets and you've built up a good static charge without even knowing it? Or, have you done it on purpose? My Aunt Jeanne and Uncle George had shag carpet back in the 70s and every time my brother and I were there for a family gathering, we stayed in our socks and chased each other around trying to zap.

When the wind blows here, it builds up a great deal of static. Getting into your car can be an adventure. At my school, the static came indoors. Our concrete floors were full of electricity. My larger rugs, when I was rolling them up, would often shock me. I could feel my hair standing up, and when I stood the rugs up to make sure the roll was tight, the static would discharge rather painfully through one of my big toes and into the floor.

So I think the static and other stuff generated by the wind plays holy hell with my body's electrical field. Which causes me more pain in my knees and other parts of my body. Mostly knees, though.

So this week is supposed to be warm and windy.
Guess I'll be hobbling around a little more than usual.

I ought to be glad the electricity leaves my hair alone.