Wednesday was a day of enduring. It was a day of taking my pain killers and just making it through. The surgeon's office was not helpful, and Health-Link thought I should return to the Hospital. I was able to book an appointment with the surgeon on Thursday. That would have to do.
So from Wednesday to Thursday I just had to make it. I just had to keep going, and keep fighting. I did. A nurse called from the Hospital to check on me. I told her I was in pain and running out of percacet, but that I had T3's. She said don't wait in the 4-6 hours, she said when 4 hours comes along, take the drugs. I took her advice.
Out of percacet and onto T3's... this is about where I left off with my last entry.
Thanks to Pharmacists being able to prescribe drugs, and assistance from my wonderful girlfriend, I was able to acquire muscle relaxants to go on top of the T3's.
I fought through the day and another night. It was another long night, but I had come prepared. In spurts I watched I, Robot so that by the time it was day I had finished. I managed to get some sleep, but when I could not sleep because of the pain, I had Will Smith to keep me company.
Yesterday was better. My body felt better and my spirits were good. I got to see the surgeon. G & G picked me up at 1:00 and we headed to the Hospital. They told me to bring a book since the appointment could take anywhere from 15 minutes to 4 hours. When I was in the Clinic everyone's eyes were on me. I think that because I am so young and limping around with a cane I get extra attention. When I slowly and painfully lowered myself into a chair I could read the same expression on all of their faces. I would like to say it was compassion and sympathy, but it was not, the expression I saw was "I'm glad that's not me."
I got in surprisingly fast, which was good because I could not focus enough to read my book. I hobbled to a little room with a curtain wall where I waited for the surgeon. Someone came and checked my incision. He said that it was healing very well. He was surprised that I had had surgery two days ago, since the incision looked so good. He peaced out and I waited for the surgeon.
He came in and the first thing he mentioned was my pain. He saw me hobble in and guessed what I was there for. I asked him if he knew how I woke up and he shook his head. I told him that all I remember is waking up screaming. He affirmed that I am in that small group where the sciatic nerve becomes inflamed from surgery instead of getting immediate relief. He said that I could expect 4-6 weeks of nerve pain.
I am not terribly pleased with this, but at least everything else is going well. He gave me pain killers to get me over the pains from surgery, and pain killers to get me over the nerve pain. He is a good Doctor, and I am pleased that he was my surgeon.
One more thing that he said that I was glad to hear is that when they were in my back there was an injury. The disk was out, there was disk material broken and scattered around, and they pulled it out. Everything went well, and if everything continues to well I will be able to resume much of my old life.
It was still a difficult afternoon, but the pain killers did wonders. I have now been able to sleep, though I wake about once an hour, and get terrible pain in my legs. I used to get cramps that would wake me up, now I get random nerve pain and end up screaming obscenities. Oh well.
This is the path to recovery, and though it might not be easy, it is the right road.
It should only get easier from here.
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