I'm a big believer in physical therapy. Do the work they suggest and you'll be fine. Wouldn't give it a second thought.

 

BUT are minds are like the weather channel.  We obsess, replay, and obsess some more. I had to drive 95 to Fla right before the hurricane was making up its mind. My office was moving, my vacation home was being sold out from under me, my girlfriend was leaving..and my boat was still in the water. I mistakenly turned on the weather channel, OYE VEY!!

You'd think 95 was going to disappear. I said a prayer, turned it over, and made Jville in 13 hours was Philly. Reminds me to stop making mountains out of mole hills.

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....back on my feet from the cold,,,,times running down till the surgery. I have to admit wavering on anxiousness some,,picked up some smokes rather than the 1/day I've been doing,,,,then felt so 'great' about that, what'd I do?......went and had a.................................coffee!!!

......hadn't had coffee for a few weeks,, and zero caffiene for ~ a week === palpitations, hot sweats, dizziness and anxiousness! ,,basically a near panic attack!!  

....if yer don't think coffee is a drug, just see what it's like to stop.     .....then start again!!  

......warning- there's a fair bit of reference to use of painblockers post-surgery.  I do this to help inform others of the real issues and details of whats faced if you have a relatively major operation

....4 days post knee replacement surgery now,, back home a day. Initially after the surgery, I was buoyant, hungry, probably a bit 'chipper' for the others in the ward..... then the anesthesia wore off,,digestion stopped, and the pain came ON!  

    It's an interesting proposition when you surrender to the care not of GAWD,, but of the medical profession,,,laying trust in humans that they will act as my creator.    Technically, the surgery went well,, with 'only an added 4'' of circumference to my knee.

   As far as painblockers go for a procedure like this, 'use as directed' means that you've got a little button that will dispense painblocker (almost) on demand over the first 24hrs.  The machine does not dispense more frequently than once in 10 minutes.  The machine logs each time the button's pressed.   My job, as an addict patient, is to constantly weigh the balance...  'am I really in pain'?.... can I handle this pain?....'-should- I handle this pain'?  ......there's a situation known as 'pain cascade' where a patient gets behind on painblockers, then it becomes basically a runaway pain, taking much more to regain control., so 'being brave' isn't necessarily the best approach either.

     In the next 48 hrs,, painblockers are administered orally. There's a program and a dose range,, in this case it was 2-4 units per 3 hours.  This stage is a step-down from the initial dosage, so initially it's an 'adjustment ' as the body adjusts to yet another form of painblocker as well as ~10-15% of P.B. potency than post surgery.     I believe it helps a lot that there's constant change in the form of painblocker, and of course a well monitored, interactive system between the doctors and patient.    Of course, during the rapid drop within 24 hrs,,,this is where 'principles of recovery comes in,,the line between patient and addict.  I could certainly see my addict looking for 'people,places,-anything-'' that might cause a raise in dosage,, as much as I could be wary of the 'cascade edge' being present, and my will and wish to ease out properly.    If I had a challenge with staff over the last night, it was that they were continually assuming the maximum allowable, but they were reasonably responsive to easing ~25%.  By morning,, I felt a build up in some way, and was anticipating the other pain challenges of being released,, so I allowed a slight re-up of dose.

Now at home, alone stretching and building strength is an ongoing painful process and it will be for some months as I rebuild.  The dance...  'am I really in pain'?.... can I handle this pain?....'-should- I handle this pain'?  will continue for months. I realize that addiction recovery,,,surgery recovery,,, and just plain getting through life each day have a lot in common........

....'' 'am I really in pain'?.... can I handle this pain?....'-should- I handle this pain'? ....'HOW should I handle this?'  ... these are questions that come up a lot in my life.      I've learnt that the medical profession can be pretty smart, they can do a lot of good....and they're human in a good way.  I've learnt that there's situations that one must 'cross a line' , surrender to a different form of higher power, and trust that all will be well.   I'm grateful that I've come to a place in recovery that allows me to maintain a perspective, and that I'm not such a punk that I can respect...''use as directed''.

I'm also grateful to YOU ALL, this virtual recovery group,, it's been very helpful for me when I wasn't able to attend so many live meetings!   

 

...since getting home, I've managed another ~30% reduction

 

 

 

now that the surgery's done maybe I can finally watch all of this!.......https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJGJJOA1Me0

 

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...soo true Dave. I think it's really helpful to have some real life information....my surgery was planned, I got to prepare myself a year for what I'm going through and it's still by no means easy. Not everyone is as lucky. To be in an accident, there's already a lot of turmoil. there's absolutely no way to avoid the drugs that some of us have maybe -just- escaped from. To not prepare one's mind to the possibility is to allow a vulnerability to being broadsided.


I can't believe it's only ~48hrs since I was sprung from hospital. It feels like I've progressed a long way,, but it's also clear there's something to do with withdrawing from the crazy painblockers which makes time morph,, energy bump up and down,, hot-flashes and all while taking every opportunity to build strength and flex. What. a. project. Personally, those 'painblockers' weren't my drug of 'no choice',, but for the amounts given initially it's beginning to be quite a gritty path as I reduce to ~1/3 what I was on even two days ago.

Two big accomplishments today,,I slept 6 hours straight last night.... and I gained back my digestive system,,yeahhh!,, so now I'm beginning to enjoy some of the solid food items people have brought in addition to fruit and yogurt. I'd feel spoilt and undeserving if I hadn't already surrendered myself to the community care that comes my way, and look forward to taking my turn on the giving end when I'm able. In visioning next year,, I'd like to do some more regular service at a soupkitchen.

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...thanks for thanking Sarah,,,it does mean a lot.  I've got amazing, even overwhelming support from my spiritual community,  but few of them would understand or handle the gritty issues I raise here.

In the ups and downs,,, it's amazing how easy it is to forget meditation and prayer when I'm 'up',, I guess that's what the 'downs' are for. As I mention upthread, I really dove into the meditation stuff this year,, took the advice as we,they say.

It really helps in a time like this.

.....a sweatlodge keeper I know puts it well..

           .....'' the only time I see you guys pray is when the cops are following you!!''

 

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oohhh, yehhh.... .....it's been 48 hours since the last of the oxy,morph primary painblockers and I managed a 12 hour stretch without anything stronger than tylenol, asprin!!      I managed to clear off the primary painblockers with 2/3 of the scrip sitting within arms reach . 

.            It's definitely time for a happy dance IF I could move like that, but that's the challenge isn't it.... it still 'hurts',,,there's still a lot of 'pain',,and that's before I get on the crutches and go down the hall         .......but that's the thing, I have activated and am relying on my body,mind's ability to deal with pain.

....'' 'am I really in pain'?.... can I handle this pain?....'-should- I handle this pain'? ....'HOW should I handle this?' .....'meditate before medicate'........... these create a large wall to get through before taking a painblocker,,and yes there's times where I allow myself through, but it's great that's a secondary level now. 

This morning,,rather early,, I've got the first of my physio appts....I'm not sure if I'll be making the grade for reclaiming flexibility,,,an important test.

 

.......wondering if I've left y'all speachless or whut? 

...can anyone relate to any of this?   ...........is there anyone out there?? 

 

 

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.... I've definitely got a lot 'going on'. Now that I'm trying to get the stretching going, I get into some -serious- pain,, pretty unbearable at times, and back to using stronger painblockers a bit -trying- to get some sleep. Had a long period awake, which seems to enhance pain, but pain already there from stretching,,could barely find a position of not being in large discomfort.

I'm going to follow physio orders and have more stretch focused sessions,, it's important to -try- to get some motion.  

I'm not sure everything went right with the surgery.        I'll work on faith,hope ,trust.

This too shall pass. I'll remember to breathe.  

Hello mikah,

glad that you made it through. I just had surgery on my throat on wednesday to remove cancer in my lymph nodes. Resting/ healing for 1 week, then back in next wed. for surgery to remove a tumor from the back of my tongue. they sent me home after one day in the hospital with a bottle of oxycodone/tylenol. I just cut my dose in half yesterday and will see if I can get off of them completely tonight. I'm glad, now, that they didn't give me oxycotin (percocet) as those would have produced a euphoric feeling. I havn't felt anything but sleepy with the medicine that I had.

in the month while I was deciding on which treatment I would go with (surgery vs. chemo / rad. ) I did a lot of reading about hemp oil to kill the cancer and did acquire some Rick Simpson oil. ( www.phoneixtears.ca ) and tried to escalate the protocol thinking that I was doing chemo / rad. but then found a skilled surgeon in Orlando. I had to cease the hemp oil a week before the first surgery. It was strange at first, after 26 years clean, and 35 years since the last time using canabis. I did welcome the sedation as I was a bit depressed with my diagnosis and the fear of treatment / prognosis. But I found that the day after I stopped using the oil I felt no negative feelings. I will probably resume the oil after I recover from this second surgery to help my body recover.

I've been hesitant about posting in here about it, even though I know that I was just taking it as medicine. What I'm not looking forward to is the couple of months of negativity that follows anesthesia and have never had 2 operations close together. I did have my appendix removed last March and I do think that It did add stress, of the unnecessary kind (imaginary) to my thinking, I appreciate your post on meditation as I believe I will be getting into a class for that and yoga after I recover, to try and alter the after affects of these unwanted chemicals and their affect on my brain chemistry.

hope that you didn't mind me posting this in your thread, I didn't want to create a new thread. Best of luck to you in your recovery.

Dean

It's just matter of time till both of us heal. One day at a time. ;)

Getting mentally prepared for having a feeding tube for a week after this wednesday. Thankfully my wife is awesome and has been taking care of me. By the way, my mother in law had both of her knees done and healed fast. You're going to do just fine. ;)

Will be praying for both you guys well being and healing.

Since 2009 I have had 2 surgerys, knee ACL replacement ( which i ended up losing my 10 year job over ) and Hernia for the 3rd time same spot and 1 procedure, recently I had AFIB and had whats called cardioversion where they gave me a strong jolt of electricity to get my heart rythm back .

I seldom have much fear I get into a state of numbness mentally I feel like im dropping my car off to the mechanics shop and I let the mechanic do his work, sometimes I feel like if im done in this world this would be a good time, I ask myself if im on good terms with my higher power LOL is there anything I left out that needs discussing and then I turn my will and life over to that power, so far I have woken up each time :)

I am not sure if all these surgerys being anesthetized deeply have caused issues, I believe they have physically but it passes. My last AFIB thing they had to put a 1" hose down my throat and I was like WHAT? slipped that in at the last minute I wasnt prepared but it went ok i had to drink and gargle on some nasty stuff to numb the throat, feeding tube will be rough i think Dean and you are going to have to mentally prepare for that but its going in your stomach not your airway so you'll be fine I think LOL

The therapy is the most important thing to FINISH I had 9 months worth when my ACL got replaced and it was a bitch 3 days a week and I should have worked harder at it because now I cant use my knee like I should be able to, so hang in there Mekah.

 

Glad I came in tonight you guys be well, Gods blessings and strength

 

 

I just had a quik chat with Dean on the phone he's home and is well, he had feeding tube in and is doing ok I believe his surgery was at 10:00 this morning he's in good spirits.

 

My mom had her kneed done last year and ran into a little trouble with the swelling not going down and flexation didnt go well because of it found out she had some blood in her knee once that was drained she started doing a lot better with her therapy, bad part was she had to go to another doctor to find all that out her surgeon failed her.

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....congratulations Dean,,,may your recovery be deep and FULL!

Dean wrote:

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Rough night last night. Been taking the bare minimum for meds, cant take anymore. Switching to tylenol today. Thoughts, Prayers, and positive mojo greatly appreciated.

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 ....I'm feeling for you Dean.  Take it easy on the med tapering.  Sometimes it's better to surrender to doctor's care, and use those meds 'as directed'.  Tapering off the pain meds too soon can actually be too much of 'self will',, creating an overwhelming pain cycle.     Remember to breathe deeep!