Tuesday 21 November 2006

Pic of the day: Stabbity?

Stabbity!

The word "stabbity!" which my online friend Tsaiko occasionally uses, amuses me. The stabbity pain of yesterday and today, however, does not amuse me. It scared me. I am happy to say that I have never actually been stabbed in the stomach, but I could imagine it would feel somewhat like this. The pain was sudden, without warning, right under the lowest bone of my chest, on the left side. It was too low and too far out on the side to be mistaken for a heart condition, and the pain radiated up into my shoulder rather than out in the arm. But it was intense, sharp, sudden. It caused me to double over and to hold my breath (breathing fully was too painful). This says something since I usually turn down the local painkiller when going to the dentist for normal drilling. (Root canal drilling still requires local anaesthetics, but luckily this is rare.)

After a stabbity attack, a lower level of pain persisted for quite a while. This happened a few times last evening and night. Lying on my side did nothing to reduce the pain, as it does with gas pains. The feeling was also different from the gas pains I occasionally have had. This was sharper, more focused, sudden. In short, it was more stabbity. The condition seems to largely fade during today. I am glad for that. It was a scary experience.

***

In the evening today there was thunder, which tends to somewhat improve my mood.