I need a "Pain Management for Dummies" book

Seriously - someone should write a "Pain Management for Dummies" book. Actually, once I started typing this in my blog post I hit Google to see if it was actually out there. To my not-so-surprise, there are several. :-) That cracks me up.

My darling husband is fighting a cold, so knowing he needed a break from tending to 3 persons on his own lately, I decided to set myself some alarms across my mobile devices last night for my 4-hour pain med reminders. We had everything layed out so that I could wake up and take the meds, and he could stay upstairs and get some sleep. I ended up staying up late to take my midnight dose of Percaset, then set my reminder for 4am to take more Percaset plus my 12-hour time release Oxycontin. I woke up at 4 in absolute blinding pain. I could hardly push the button on my bed remote to raise the head just enough to take the medicine and wash it down from a cup with a bendy straw in it! I tell you what - I'm starting to think that either I need something stronger, or need to shorten my window from 4 hours to 3. The only problem is, Percaset has a serious dose of Tylenol in it and you can only consume a certain amount in a 24 hour period. Something to talk to my surgeon's nurse about.

I also awoke to notice my right thigh and hip is a bit puffier than the non-operated side. The incision still looks great - no redness or drainage, but nonetheless something I emailed the nurse about. She said it is not uncommon to have more edema around the incision, and reminded me I did have a hematoma at the top of the incision so I guess I don't have anything to worry about. From my perspective though, I can deal with this localized pain MUCH better than that PLUS nausea PLUS heartburn! I feel like a million bucks compared to how I felt just a few days ago. Pain management is such a confusing, scientific balancing act it seems ... I think it also causes you to have really weird dreams. I had some REALLY strange and vivid dreams about work early this morning. I dreamed I went back to work MUCH earlier than prescribed, and had no cane ... no walker ... no wheelchair ... and was hopping around on one leg from meeting to meeting. Very strange. I do miss the work crew though!

Call me Evil Knievel

I was a wheelin fool last night in my wheelchair. I was feeling pretty good and wanted to test my new found independence, so after dinner (I sat at the table with the family, in my ride) I told my husband I would pick up the kitchen while he took the kids upstairs to bathe them. He looked at me like I was crazy, and it took a little convincing, but he reluctantly took them upstairs and I got to work. I threw away all the trash, put dirty dishes in the sink, put a few things in the frig, wiped the counters/island/dinner table down with Clorox wipes, and picked up a few of the piles on the counters ... all from the safe confines of my wheelchair. Later after the kids were nice and squeaky clean ... he said "Wow - the kitchen looks great, babe!". Hee hee ... never underestimate the power of a project manager. :) I will admit it was tricky, and there were some things I really could not do, but it was fun just to put myself to the challenge. I took each of the kids for a ride sitting on my good leg around the kitchen. They had a blast. :-)

In addition to this necessity, PAO patients need a "grabber" (shown here clipped to the right side of the wheelchair). For the things which are not immediately in your reach, this great gadget can usually place things in your reach. I was also provided an "invisible dog leash" sort of thing (will add a picture later) that has a loop on one end (that I loop on my operated leg in the arch of my foot) and is a durable nylon with a handle at the top that helps me lift my somewhat dead leg from the floor into the bed, or wherever I need it to go. My leg muscles are so compromised that I cannot yet lift my leg and place it wherever I please, so I need help.

And then of course is the walker. This is MUCH more stable than crutches at this point, where I still get light-headed after being vertical for any length of time. I will admit it is nearly impossible to fold this up and carry it in my lap when I'm wheeling myself around the house. You can't tell I'm trying to re-gain my independence, can you? Ugh ...

After a busy morning of drinking coffee, changing clothes, brushing my hair, brushing my teeth, and traveling to the den to get myself set up on the couch with my laptop and such, I'm exhausted. My BFF is coming over at lunchtime and bringing our favorite black bean salad from Calypso here in Cool Springs, so hopefully I can stay awake long enough to enjoy a visit with her!

I want to say a special THANK YOU to all my friends and church folk who have brought meals and treats for us. The kids have enjoyed the variety (and so have we!), and it has been much easier on John not having to worry about too much grocery shopping and cooking each night for all of us. I love you all.

And to my husband, who still manages day-in-and-day-out to get both kids up, dressed, and to their respective schools/summer camps, takes care of me, and still manages to get his own work done (remotely at least for this week), he is my hero. He treated himself (with my support, of course) to 2 new 24" Acer monitors for his studio (pics to come as well). Amazon had a sale, so I let him get those and they arrived yesterday. They look awesome!! I love you, John ... and can't thank you enough for your dedication to keeping this family afloat!

Oh - here is my newly constructed right hip with the 7 screws, and a nicely rounded socket where my femoral head fits nicely inside. Yes, very nice. :-) I'm trying to get my hands on digital copies of these, so pardon the red markings from the surgeon - this is a picture of a piece of paper, basically. There is a big white wrinkle going up the page from the bottom, so disregard that. The screws aren't that hard to locate.

More later! Fingers are tired now. :)
-L