I sailed through the surgery. I lolled around the hospital and enjoyed being waited on. I came home and felt great. Lots of energy, almost no pain. Could it really be this easy?
Well, no. I felt so good, I immediately started dialing down the drugs. I went too far in that direction, and yesterday….Sunday….took a metaphorical nosedive. Yesterday, I was so sluggish and lethargic, and in too much pain to do my exercises. All I wanted to do was take drugs and sleep.
So I did. It took till noon today to get back to the right amount of pain control. As a result, I had an excellent physical therapy session. I practiced a lot with a cane, and it looks like I should be able to give up the walker entirely by the end of this week.
The downside of getting enough pain meds into my system is the accompanying need to sleep. But I am accepting that. My only responsibility is to heal and retrain muscles. Eat. Sleep. Heal.
Hey Sharon,
It took me exactly 9 days to feel 'normal' again after a major tooth implant/bone reconstruction in my jaw. This never would've been the case a couple of decades ago, and it really threw me. Part of it is our age, no big deal. Just take the time it takes, and don't try to be a she-woman! (that's a take-off on 'he-man', sounds weird though). In the proper amount of time, you'll be looking back on all this as a 'past' experience......#1 rule, be patient with yourself. :)
Kathy
Posted by: Kathy Matteo | 04/04/2011 at 07:40 PM
Eat. Sleep. Heal. Sprinkle in a bit of Reading, Knitting and Words With Friending as energy permits.
Glad you're back on top of the pain.
Posted by: Janet | 04/04/2011 at 08:18 PM
That pain thing is one of the hardest things to convince many patients to keep on top of. You are not going to become a drug addict in the short time it takes you to recover from this. Your therapy is the most important thing you can do now, and if you hurt too much to do it...
I missed the first few posts after your surgery, for some reason you didn't show up on my news reader. I'm glad you are doing so well!
Posted by: Lorette | 04/06/2011 at 11:33 AM