Pain Management:
- First and foremost, stay on top of the pain meds. I suck at this, and I'm not sure why it's been so difficult. Take one pill (Tylenol with Codeine) every four hours. Plain and simple, and I've got nothing but time to sit around and watch the clock for when I should be popping the next pill. Yet, somehow six hours will pass before I realize it, and the pain quickly creeps back up from a 1 to a 4. Get it straight, Kym.
- The lower part of my right ear is numb. Like I can feel a tingle when I touch it with my finger, but if I squeeze it, it doesn't hurt. And the area around the entire incision is pretty numb too.
- My neck is mostly tight, bruised, and feeling like someone literally rung their fingers around it.
- It's also starting to itch around the incision, which I guess is a normal part of the healing process, as the skin begins to come back together and form a scab.
- Occasionally I notice my jaw hurts, but I think I must clench my teeth when I'm sleeping. The pain goes away once I move my jaw around a little bit.
- I haven't been able to use my Sonicare toothbrush, as the pressure really hurts my teeth. So it's back to the manual way of brushing for now.
- Oh, and one bit of info that is definitely way beyond tmi (but I warned you from the beginning)... the constipation from the codeine is getting to be a little unbearable. I've taken a few stool softeners, but there's not much movement going on. 72+ hours is a long time for things to stay bottled up inside.
Life:
- I was finally able to wash my hair in the shower last night, but it was a little tough to scrub near the incision. Once again I am thankful my husband is standing by our vows to honor "in sickness and in health", as he had to jump in the shower with me and help wash and rinse my hair. Guess it couldn't be as bad as helping with the bed pan though, huh? He's a trooper, and is ready and willing to help with whatever he can. And boy did it feel good to really wash my hair, and scrub out all of the blood and other 'grossness' that had accumulated in there over the past few days.
- My parents have been angels, and I'm so thankful they now live here in PA to help out as much as they have. My mom has come over each morning to get Kenslee out the door onto the school bus, then she takes Colin over to her house for the morning. She comes back at 12:20pm to get Kenslee off the bus, and they go back to her house for lunch. Then both my parents bring the kids back over at dinner time, and help get things cleaned up around the house. Homework, dishes, laundry, clean-up. You name it, Mom does it. Seriously, what would I do without her?
- I'm 90% dependent on others, and that depresses me. I'm not able to lift much, or bend over to pick up things, so I feel completely helpless. I can't even lift my plates (why did I choose the ridiculously heavy Pfaltzgraff set?), carry things upstairs, and pick up stuff from the ground. It even hurts when I try to drink from one of our tall glasses, as they seem to be awfully heavy when full of water. So I've resorted to the cheap-o plastic cups for now.
Kym,
ReplyDeleteAs I have been reading your posts since day 1, I could not just by-pass this one only because I thought I could contribute a little piece of mind. I am no professional (not yet at least) but pain medications are known to cause severe constipation in many patients. This severe type of constipation is usually not relieved with stool softeners. Talk to your doctor and see if you can start taking a laxative (e.g. Ducolax). Laxatives are often prescribed concomitantly with pain medications and the combination is common. I hope this helps in keeping your mind at ease (somewhat). At least you'll be relieved in the bathroom! I'll continue to pray for you and your family. God bless <3
I've been out a whole day and know the feeling. I've taken two ibprophen and nothing else. I don't have much pain. I'm thinking I need to though. And the constipation is ungodly. But I will deal with it.
ReplyDelete