A world shrunk by pain

My help comes from the Creator of heaven and Earth

Pain pain pain.

The signal to pay attention.

For me, it starts as an itching inside my nostril. I absentmindedly scratch, and:

Lightning strike.

Searing, burning pain across the right side of my face.

Itching is a kind of pain, uncomfortable and persistent. But I learn to ignore it. It is the precursor. Burning is next, followed by agony — the groaning aloud kind, where I can’t control the sounds that come out of me.

Before I had MS, I didn’t know that groaning is involuntary. I am standing here, alone in a crowd, and then lightning strike, and I want to fall to my knees. Of course, I cry out. I struggle to keep standing. I'm not trying to draw attention to myself — the opposite in fact, but everyone looks.