Up until now I have been relatively pain free. This is not to say that I haven't experienced any pain or discomfort since my latest surgery (because I have), but whatever unpleasantness the fixator caused was well taken care of by the long acting pain medication (hydromorph contin) I am on 24/7 and the occasional dose of Tylenol extra strength when necessary. I have had moments when there was a spike in the type and severity of pain/discomfort, but I have usually been able to ride it out. I am not a fan of taking my break through (fast acting) pain medication. I have morphine tablets for when I need immediate pain relief, but they make me drowsy and rather stoned. And unlike other people who think it is great fun to use drugs recreationally and that I have access to these narcotics, I do not like the sensation of being stoned. My experiences with narcotics are limited to medications I have been prescribed by a physician after surgery, so I can't speak for the type of high obtained by street drugs, but I am 100% sure that I dislike the high caused by prescription narcotics. I prefer to be in control of my mental capacities and be fully aware of my surroundings so I avoid taking narcotics if at all possible. Back to my point - if at all possible, I will try to ride out any spikes in pain/discomfort if possible. Usually an increase in pain does not last more than half an hour (usually only a few minutes), so the relief provided my my fast acting med is not worth the six hours of feeling stoned. Oddly enough, I don't have this problem with my long acting medication, but I do have it with fast acting medications like morphine and percocet.
Today was a day full of pain and discomfort. My leg started causing problems in the early hours this morning so I only got a few restless hours of sleep. I woke up at eleven with what felt like extreme growing pain running from my big toe through to my knee; my pin sites stung; something somewhere on my shin felt like it was stinging; and there was bone pain every now and again. I choose to ride things out today, only adding Tylenol extra strength when necessary, but if the pain/discomfort gets worse than it was today I will likely find myself turning to my fast acting medication.
When I saw my surgeon in December, he said that most of his patients are pretty stoned throughout the fixator/bone growing process. I consider myself extremely fortunate that I have experiences as little pain as I have so far (whatever pain.discomfort there was had been nicely taken care of by the long acting drug), but I have always tried to be realistic and remind myself that things could change. Perhaps today is part of that change. Or, if I am lucky, tomorrow will be much better pain wise. I really hope so. And if the pain doesn't go back to my 'normal' level pain, I desperately hope it does not get worse than it was today. The prospect of three more months of days like today is is daunting. Just the thought of it is tiring. =(
I do have several bright notes to counteract the pain issue rearing it's nasty head.
1) I got my hair cut last week Monday. Actually, I got it cut on Sunday but the stylist who did it did a horrible job. And when I mean horrible, I horrendous. I asked for a pixie cut. What I received was not a pixie cut. When I got home, my mum called it the most unimaginative hair cut she had ever seen. There were no playful strands of hair or differences in length and... most confusing to me, the back was long. The whole point of a pixie cut is to be short! I went back to the hair dresser the next day to ask if someone could trim the back up a bit. I was willing and fully prepared pay full price for a new cut. Fortunately, a different stylist was there - one that has cut my hair numerous times before. She asked what happened because I usually have such funky playful haircuts. I explained about the day before and the stylist understood immediately. She said that the woman from the day before had no imagination when it came to haircuts and to never let her cut my hair again. She then proceeded not only to trim the hair on the back on my hair but 're-did' the entire hair cut. She said she couldn't fix things completely, but my hair looks a hell of a lot better than it did the day before. She also said my leg is already kippered out as is so she couldn't leave me with a bad hair cut too! I offered to pay for the hair cut, which she said was not necessary, but I left a good tip. I will definitely make sure to have her cut my hair in the future. Unfortunately I don't have photos from the first hair cut (I didn't want to capture it on film, it was that bad), but I do have photos from the second cut.
2) I had to appointments in Hamilton last week: one on Tuesday with my infectious disease specialist, which was a waste of time for the most part, and another on Friday to see my orthopedic surgeon. I have lots of lovely new x-rays to share. I won't update about these appointments tonight, but I will that my x-rays show that things are going as expected! This is wonderful and reassuring news. I am eager to put up a post about with these x-rays in the next few days and another explaining just how my external fixator works.
3) Two trips to Hamilton meant to trips to Ikea, a kind of tradition my mum and I have had ever since I was referred to my infectious disease specialist in 2011. We mainly browsed on Tuesday but I got several great finds on Friday:
Lovely sunny yellow duvet cover and pillow case to brighten up my room as we head straight into the cold Canadian winter. I spend most of my time indoors and even when I got out it is mostly dreary, so this bedding is a nice way to keep things bright.
After that, mum and I went to the restuarant upstair to eat (nothing like meatballs at Ikea). Before we left I decided to grabe a few more boxes of the taodstool ornamants, but they were all gone! There were 30 plus boxes of them when I was in the store before we ate, but they were all gone by the time we were back downstairs, maybe an hour later. We figure somebody bought the lot of them!
While looking for more boxes of toadstools, an Ikea employee came out with a fresh cart of things for the as is section. I have been looking at pots and pans for when I move out again in September. I found that while a lot of student houses come with a fully supplied kitchen, the selection and quality of cookware can suck. Mum and I had been looking at posts/pans earlier on before we ate. I decided I really liked one set but would wait to buy it later in the year. Low and behold, there were pots and pans being in that cart wheeled into the as is section. Mum saw them and made a b-line for them. There were three pots, all different sizes and with lids, and a frying pan). 5$ each! What a steal. mum grabbed all three pans right away and I decided to get them. The frying pan had a Teflon layer on it, which I don't like, so I didn't want it. Another customer grabbed it straight away. The pots are good quality, stainless steel. We think they were display models, which often are sold after a while at a fraction of the originally price. I will give a good wash and they will be like new. So all I need now is a frying pan! I don't have picture of the pots.
3) Two jokes from last week:
While at Ikea in the cookware secetion I looked at my mum and said "You know you have grown up when you start taking an interest in pots and pans. When on earth did I grow up!?!?"
Comment to my mum last night, after watching sixteen and pregnant on YouTube: "There is something wonderful about knowing that I can never be a teenage mum any more!" We laughed hard about that one XD
And that is it. I am trying to focus on the little things, like new sheets and lots of coluring. One day at a time. My leg had thankfully quieted down a lot. I think it is time to crawl under my bright sunny sheets and go to bed. Hoping for nice sunny dreams and less pain and discomfort tomorrow.
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