❝I have minimized my pain on occasion to give the impression I am a “tough guy”❞

For me, it wasn't that. I mean, I was paraplegic at the time and couldn't even sit up or clean my own behind, so it was hardly possible to act tough or cool around the nurses and PSWs. 🙂

I did experience extreme pain once (I'll call it a 7–8), when they intubated me trough the nose with a stomach suction tube. The first two times it went down my windpipe and hit my lungs. No tough guy there — I was begging them to stop and try again the next day, but they got it on the third try.

After that, I wasn't going to call soreness from recent spinal surgery and screws an "8," because I knew what an 8 actually felt like.