It was a rough weekend. Well that’s not totally fair – it’s the nights that were rough.
My surgeon’s office and the pharmacy played telephone tag on Friday, long enough that they all went home without ever filling my prescription. So as I feared, I had to stretch out my remaining painkillers, and Saturday night in particular was not fun.
Several times I ruminated over how nicely I described the pain in a previous post. I can’t explain what causes it, but man, awaking once or twice each night having just flexed my quad and budged my kneecap – it’s the silliest, most sinister little tweak that has me terrified at bedtime, because of how much it goddamn hurts – the persistent, acute burning and searing sensation, all while the leg is locked in extension – it feels like torture. And then there’s the regular old in-between-doses-knee-throbbing-and-leg-and-foot-fuzzy-and-tingling situation at around 3 AM.
So anyway that sucked, but then good things started happening. First, because I was carefully guarding my pain meds until nighttime, I deferred to good ol’ extra-strength Tylenol during the day, and it went very well. So I’ve started doing that now. Which is a bonus, because I’m also trying to be back at work, and one less painkiller in my system is probably improving my productivity.
Next, I’ve started noticing less pain in general during the day, including when I shift, twist and shimmy my leg here and there. So by equal measure, the days are as good as the nights are bad right now. Which I guess I’ll take?
Then there’s also the second post-op shower I took on Sunday – fully by myself, I might add! I didn’t need any help at all undressing or dressing, thank you very much (cue applause).
And I laid down on our new couch for the first time in a week, and my god it was fabulous. Nothing reminds you how much you love something than taking a break from it for a while.
On that note, I deliberately went outside for some fresh air today, and said to myself ‘meh’ and went back in. Look, I haven’t left the house or so much as stepped off the doormat since last weekend, and for whatever reason I don’t really miss it. Which is a testament to how much I love my house, I guess. Maybe I’m an indoor cat now.
Lastly, gloriously, I finally got that prescription refilled today! What a relief. It’s just reassuring to have it for nighttimes now. With luck, I’ll be through the worst of this soon.
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