I'm almost off the dilaudid. That rocks. Realizing that my pain management was still pretty dependent on it though. I feel like there are holes in the Kadian treatment. And of course am not at home. My partner has a solo art show opening in Kansas City (secret center of the art universe) on the 2nd. We are driving there. I'm slowing things down. We usually are in Ft Collins by night 2 and we are outside of Rawlins, WY. I hate hate hate wearing the aspen collar for 10+ hours a day. Other than that I'm hanging in there. I was told by many people that they didn't drive after surgery, and that part I am not having any trouble with. I drove 4 hours today. It doesn't seem to be any more tiring to drive or be a passenger when it is all interstate driving. We are having to hit hotels instead of car camping. I just can't figure out how to curl up in the van yet. Fortunately we built in an extra drive day not knowing how I would do. Gas is so expensive that we are going to be staying in the midwest for the month the show is up. Makes for a long time on the road.
If any of you are in KC area you should come to the opening on Sept 2 (http://www.eliotkdaughtry.com/robotcity/).
20050827
20050817
Hole in the info
So obviously...looking at the gapping hole in the space between the Cervical Xray post and the waking up post. That the methadone was still WAY sucking and I moved to taking Kadian, which helped quite a bit. None the less there was just a whole lot going on in my body...cuz I don't sleep 20 hours a day naturally. We'll see tomorrow who I'm going to be seeing at the pain clinic.
Waking up
I woke up on Friday. I think I literally had been sleeping almost 20 hours a day. I figure it was the fab combo of my system starting to kick the anesthesia out, withdrawal from some hard ass drugs, and just needing to sleep through some of the healing. So I'm down to about 10mg/day of Dilaudid & on Kadian...which doesn't seem too bad. Amazing how long the pain lasts though. I quit the clonidine which they give you to help with the withdrawal. I think that helped some. I'm taking as little flexeril as possible now too...usually about 1 a day. I don't really have much to say as after a couple of truly crappy weeks I am just starting to be up and around. Things are going well at this point I think. I'm making slow progress on the physical front, but it is progress and the docs said to plan for a year of recovery, so...I think I'm on schedule. It is really nice to feel half way human.
Oh, I do have something. I'm driving. I asked quite a few people who had more or less the same surgery how they felt about driving after surgery. Almost everyone said eek eek bad no good almost never not like-y, etc. I have to say that I am having a fine time driving. I have to turn at the shoulders or waist to see the right side mirror, but the rear view and left side are fine just using my eyes (switching from glasses to contacts was key though). I'm of course wearing a cervical collar. I had someone with me the first several times I drove to be a spotter of sorts...basically to call me out if I wasn't seeing things or was about to do something horrible. Nothin'. So there you go. If any of you are about to get yourself wrapped up in this sort of surgery, here's one vote for driving being ok afterward. My suspicion is that it depends on your comfort with driving pre-surgery. I LOVE to drive. I HATE to be a passenger. Surgery has taught me some tolerance for being a passenger, but hasn't dampened my love for driving. I'm driving myself to physical therapy and to doctors appointments. I'm running a couple of errands here and there. It kicks my ass and I have to come home and nap, but...progress none the less.
Speaking of progress. I actually went out to visit some friends the other night. Another thing that kicked my ass, but we parked about half a block from our friend's house...I walked in (did I mention that I walked in!) I can make it about half a block and that's pretty much it...we hung out for a couple of hours and then I felt like a big ole 2 year old. I was just done. Needed to go home right then. Ah well. More napping for me.
Oh, I do have something. I'm driving. I asked quite a few people who had more or less the same surgery how they felt about driving after surgery. Almost everyone said eek eek bad no good almost never not like-y, etc. I have to say that I am having a fine time driving. I have to turn at the shoulders or waist to see the right side mirror, but the rear view and left side are fine just using my eyes (switching from glasses to contacts was key though). I'm of course wearing a cervical collar. I had someone with me the first several times I drove to be a spotter of sorts...basically to call me out if I wasn't seeing things or was about to do something horrible. Nothin'. So there you go. If any of you are about to get yourself wrapped up in this sort of surgery, here's one vote for driving being ok afterward. My suspicion is that it depends on your comfort with driving pre-surgery. I LOVE to drive. I HATE to be a passenger. Surgery has taught me some tolerance for being a passenger, but hasn't dampened my love for driving. I'm driving myself to physical therapy and to doctors appointments. I'm running a couple of errands here and there. It kicks my ass and I have to come home and nap, but...progress none the less.
Speaking of progress. I actually went out to visit some friends the other night. Another thing that kicked my ass, but we parked about half a block from our friend's house...I walked in (did I mention that I walked in!) I can make it about half a block and that's pretty much it...we hung out for a couple of hours and then I felt like a big ole 2 year old. I was just done. Needed to go home right then. Ah well. More napping for me.
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