MY LIFE

Sciatica Sucks — Avoiding the Self-Pity Party

Chantal Gaudiano Whittington
2 min readJan 8, 2023

The road goes ever on and on.

A woebegone doge.
Photo by jovin kallis on Unsplash

Now that I know I have sciatica, I have to figure out how to live with it. I’m on the second day of my tapering dose of steroids (Only five pills today. Waah!), and I have to wait until Monday to schedule physical therapy.

Meanwhile, the world doesn’t stop just because one-sixth of my body hurts. The cat still needs to be fed. The dishes still need to be washed. My laundry still needs to be done, my house still needs to be tidied — and I still need to work my day-job with a minimum of squirming in my chair and getting up multiple times an hour to walk around aimlessly so my knee or hip will stop hurting for a few moments.

This morning I did the breakfast dishes and wanted to give myself a gold star for washing all of them in one go, instead of leaving some for later. I can’t go through the rest of my life congratulating myself for doing normal things. I’m sure I won’t, but the fact that I am thinking that way at all annoys me.

Maybe it’s just part of getting used to this (I hope) temporary situation, a coping tool of sorts, to cheer myself on so I can keep moving forward.

At this rate I don’t know how I’m going to manage work, church, Eastern Star, voice lessons, or anything other than lying in bed…

--

--

Chantal Gaudiano Whittington
Chantal Gaudiano Whittington

Written by Chantal Gaudiano Whittington

Chantal writes about disabilities, spirituality, stock investing--and life in general.

Responses (1)