Remember Martha? Private Martha who doesn't like her Caregivers butting into her business and calling her on physical problems?
She has suffered through quite a few surgeries and is actually very strong. Rarely takes pain medication.
A caregiver tried to lift her from the car by jerking on a gait belt. This caused quite a bit of pain in her ribs. I hate gait belts, mostly. But that's beside the point. The pain persisted. She mentioned it to me as we got ready for the morning.
When her home health care nurse was there looking at her abdominal wound, she asked "Do you have any pain anywhere?"
"No!" she says cheerfully.
ehhhh what? So I jump in, helpfully. "What about that pain along your ribcage that you pointed out to me this morning?"
Daggers from the recliner. Oooooo.
But the nurse checks it out and agrees it is an injury from the gait belt. I'm hoping Martha forgives me.
This is much the way any pain, bleeding, digestive upset, etc goes. But I follow my instincts and choose my battles wisely.
