Better Left Unsaid

Here is a random sampling of conversations I’ve had with people lately regarding my fibromyalgia.

Today At The Dentist

My Hygenist (to the dentist, as he walks into the treatment room): “Well, Jennifer has just been diagnosed with fibromyalgia.”

My Dentist: “Hm. And what about trigeminal neuralgia?”

Me: “Yeah, I’ve got that too.”

My Dentist: “On both sides of your face, or just one side?”

Me: “Just the right side.”

My Dentist (in the tone of someone who has clearly never experienced pain so badly that they ever actively wished for death, but rather thinks the subject is an interesting one for a calm and rational exchange of thoughts): “Isn’t it interesting how the pain only occurs on one side of the face like that?”

Me: heroically mastering my desire to rip his head off and then beat him to death with it, so as to give him a more personal, less theoretical understanding of the pain which we are discussing.

Me (slowly and quietly, so as to ensure my continued self-control): “That’s not the word I would have chosen.””

Last Weekend On The Way To The Grocery Store

Me (explaining to my husband why I am listening to my iPod even though we already have music playing on the car stereo): Sometimes your music hurts my nervous system.”

My Husband: “Cool!!”

Me: “Um, no, it really isn‘t.”