{"id":7035,"date":"2014-05-27T20:58:11","date_gmt":"2014-05-28T00:58:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/allandouglas.dougbittinger.com\/blog\/?p=7035"},"modified":"2025-04-21T01:56:39","modified_gmt":"2025-04-21T05:56:39","slug":"concerto-pain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/concerto-pain\/","title":{"rendered":"Concerto of Pain"},"content":{"rendered":"

 <\/p>\n

\"trumpet<\/a>
Via Oberlin College<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A single, high, prolonged trumpet blast shatters my blissful bubble of sleep.\u00a0 Was that Gabriel?\u00a0 Is it time?<\/p>\n

Alas, no.\u00a0 As consciousness replaces confusion I find that the blast was not sound but pain \u2013 which can be similar \u2013 and the trumpeting is emanating from my right shoulder.\u00a0 Now that I am more aware, my neck and upper back begin playing harmony to the lead trumpet in a horn concerto of pain.<\/p>\n

I attempt to mute the performance by shifting position.\u00a0 But that only boosts the volume.<\/p>\n

I am cold. It was hot when I fell asleep and I covered only with the sheet. \u00a0Now it\u2019s cooler and the muscles in my back and neck are tense from the chill. \u00a0I pull up the quilt and wrap it around me. \u00a0In a few moments the harmonies diminish, but the lead horn continues blasting its lilting tone.<\/p>\n

I reach for my watch: 3:30 a.m. \u00a0A groan offers bass counterpoint to the tenor lead horn, which continues to strip away the grogginess of slumber. \u00a0Twenty minutes pass and other instruments are joining the melody of madness. \u00a0Hips, lower back, an elbow chime in. \u00a0A tooth throbs in low accompaniment.<\/p>\n

Sleep is defeated, sent scurrying away by this reveille. \u00a0I roll out of bed, test my balance and head for the Tylenol bottle and coffee maker.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s Monday morning. \u00a0I pulled a stump Saturday afternoon. \u00a0As is generally the case, \u00a0(Read more:\u00a0<\/a>)<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  A single, high, prolonged trumpet blast shatters my blissful bubble of sleep.  Was that Gabriel?  Is it time? Alas, no.  As consciousness replaces confusion I find that the blast was not sound but pain – which can be similar – and the trumpeting is emanating from my right shoulder.  Now that I am more … Continue reading “Concerto of Pain”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[44,7],"tags":[26],"class_list":["post-7035","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-creative","category-life","tag-life-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7035","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7035"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7035\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19683,"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7035\/revisions\/19683"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7035"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7035"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7035"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}