ABSTRACT
I am a 54-year-old housewife. As a result of several automobile accidents and falls while horseback riding during my childhood, I have lived with a lot of pain most of my life. For the past 22 years, as the result of another accident, I have lived with constant, severe intractable pain with nearly total body involvement. During this time, I have also had to undergo four surgeries. During the postoperative period of the last three surgeries, I have had a terrible experience because the doctors would not prescribe adequate pain medication for me. As a result of this, my postoperative recovery was traumatic and slow each time.
