C. S. Lewis, the infamous Christian apologist, wrote a little book on this very issue. I have it somewhere. I know it's a really good book and has amazing things to say about the problem of pain. It's been a long time since I read it, but I seem to recall Lewis saying how pain can be used to motivate and inspire positive changes in one's life. I believe I have experienced this first hand through the emotionally painful experiences of my own past. Maybe this is what Lewis was talking about primarily in his book, because emotionally painful experiences are clearly very different than physically painful ones. For me personally, when it comes to physical pain, I'm not so sure there is anything "good" that comes out of it. Period.
For example, I remember when my left knee started acting up on me pretty regularly last year. I HATED it. I found every step I took to be difficult. I went to New York with a good friend last November and thought I would die from the pain associated with walking around Manhattan as we did. The "old" me could do a trip like that without stopping from 9:00AM - 11:00PM. When I found myself sitting in chairs at department stores in order to give myself a "break" from walking...I knew I was in trouble.
This past January I decided to start working out (again!) in ways that didn't stress my osteoarthritic left knee (which is what the "real" problem was/is with that knee). So I rode a stationery bike...mile after mile...and although my knee felt "better" after each workout...it didn't resolve the problem. My knee still hurts. It looks like it will continue to hurt until I obtain some sort of surgical intervention between now and the day when whatever it is inside my left knee is either cleaned up, scraped out, or replaced.
But I digress. Just the other day I had my gallbladder removed. I didn't think it would be that big of an issue "pain" wise, as I was told by many of my friends that it's "no big deal" and "you'll be fine in a few days" following surgery. And it wasn't anything I thought about at all...until I woke up from surgery. All I can tell you is that being stabbed four times in the stomach area hurts a lot. So much in fact that it was only "fentanyl" which took away the physical pain I was experiencing post surgery. Morphine didn't work (talk about a jagermeister/bull mental moment!)...my pain was very much still there, but I was also extremely tired too (?!)...this was NOT the net feeling I was hoping for. There was also talk of trying vicodin on me, but my surgeon insisted I wear a heart monitor if this was going to happen. I opted against the vicodin. In the end, something called tordol worked well enough (from what I understand, it's like "super alleve" via IV drip). I was ultimately released after spending the night at the hospital...having learned all about what does and does NOT do it for me to best manage my own physical pain post surgery.
I don't think I learned anything "good" as a result of this most recent experience with physical pain. I don't think I'm more patient or kinder or gentler as a result. Maybe if the surgeon and nurses had yelled at me or called me names I would have been able to stretch and grow myself in a positive way. But when it came to the physical distress and discomfort I experienced (and still am as I recover), I'm not so sure that the "problem of pain", when it consists of purely "physical" pain that is, is anything that I can be or am inspired by. Physical pain sucks. And I don't like it. And if I ever experience it again to the extent I did the other day, bring on the fentanyl. In large doses. Please.
