Survey says…

From time to time I get sent surveys in the mail and they are usually from doctors or other people doing research about people with spinal cord injuries or other similar afflictions. I always complete the surveys because I want to help the people who are trying to come up with better ways for people like me to live. They often give you $25 or $50 as a "thank you" for taking the time to complete the survey which is nice, but unnecessary, at least for me, since I'd still fill out the survey anyway, even if they didn't send me anything. (But it IS fun to get free money!)

A few days ago I got another survey and I started working on it with my mom yesterday. The survey is 27 pages, so it's quite long, but I understand the need for it to be very detailed when you're taking into consideration that having a spinal cord injury changes your life in just about EVERY physical, emotional and mental way.

I wanted to write about just a few of the questions that this survey covered.

Pain: 

• About how many days a month on average do you experience pain? My answer: 25 
• On a scale from 1-10, with 1 being no pain and 10 being the worst possible pain you've ever experienced, what is the number that best describes your pain on a daily basis. My answer: 4 
• On a scale from 1-10, how bad is the pain you are experiencing right now? My answer: 7 (I'm in quite a bit of pain today, as you can tell from my answer).

   __I'm in quite a bit of pain just about every day. My mom and sister Laura (who I was telling about the survey) know I experience pain, but they were surprised at the frequency and intensity of the pain. I told them I'm just good at "smiling through the pain" because I don't usually let on about it and I rarely complain.

Outlook on life: 

• On a scale from 1-10, how satisfied are you with your life? (1 being extremely dissatisfied and 10 being extremely satisfied) My answer: At first I said 10, but then my mom looked at me and she said, "You are?" So I reconsidered. 10 9

*If I WEREN'T in this situation then I would probably rank my overall life satisfaction as a 4. But since I AM taking my situation into consideration, I'm able to significantly raise my response. I've accepted that this is my lot in life, and I'm happy.

Like I said, this survey covers so many different topics (I'm not even finished with it yet; almost, but not quite) and some of the questions are so funny. I know I'm probably strange, but I think surveys are fun!

What I learned from this survey? I'm positive. Positively paralyzed.