About Me

My name is Del(*). I am a chronic pain patient. I have fibromyalgia and degenerative spine issues. I had a lifting injury in 2002. I have spent most of my adult life dealing with pain and all the side effects that come with it. I have had 6 surgeries on my spine so far. I have had countless injections, radio frequency ablations, spinal cord stimulator trials, fusion surgeries, etc. The pain gets so bad it breaks my mind. Over and over and over again, and that causes psychosis.

I originally have an IT background. Then I was in the building trades doing building automation controls for HVAC. I had to leave the career and resign from the union because I couldn’t do that work anymore. I then worked for a couple non-profits, a public school district, and a private school. I had to quit those jobs because of my spine issues. I really enjoy helping others. I can’t say no to people who ask for help.

I haven’t been able to work since October 2022. I haven’t been able to get any public assistance other than Medicaid health insurance. Unfortunately very few doctors seem to accept Medicaid. I have even had people laugh at me on the phone when I ask if they accept my insurance.

I started this site to show people what it’s like to deal with chronic pain. I occasionally write blog posts related to pain, fibromyalgia, and healthcare. I had been keeping a personal journal for about a year. I published all my old daily journals and will add my new journals here every day. The journals started to track my medication use and to use as a reference to see what works or what causes more problems. It has also become a place to vent. There are many cries for help in the journals, but since they were originally only for me, nobody ever saw those cries. I thought it would be useful for someone to see the madness and pain in real time, and there is an abundance of madness. Hopefully someone can use it to help other people like me, and if I can somehow get help, that’s great too.

I moved from Northern California to the southwest suburbs of Chicago to help out my elderly father, but it turned out that he is helping me. My goal is to reduce my pain levels enough to be able to get back to work and help my dad out as much as I can.