Pain Meds

I am pretty much off the hard-core pain meds now, so I did some analysis of how much I took.  Starting with the day I came home from the hospital, I kept a log of all the meds I took so I would know what time each dose was.

I came home on a Thursday around 2 pm.  That day after I got home, I took 1 Vicodin and 4 doses of Percocet.  Friday and Saturday, I took 7 doses each day.  On Friday, I started with Perc, but then after the Home Health Care nurse came and told me it was ok to switch to my preferred Vic, I did so.  So I was basically taking something every 2-3 hours.

By Sunday (which would be 5 days from surgery) I dropped down to 3 doses/day and did that through Thursday.  I would take 1 early in the day, usually around my morning PT, then 1 mid afternoon around my 2nd PT, and then another in the evening with my 3rd PT.

On Friday, June 21, I dropped to 1 dose/day.  For the next 3 weeks - until Friday, July 12, I took 1-2 doses of pain meds/day, sometimes adding in an Ibuprofen.  Last Sat and Sun, I didn't take any pain meds, just Ibu.  The last Vic I took was Monday, July 15.  Since then I've been taking just Ibu - 1 or 2/day.

For the last couple weeks of the Vic, I found it most helpful to take it at bedtime to keep my leg from aching during the night.

For the last week, I would say that I really don't have "pain" anymore.  It is more an issue of stiffness from the swelling.  My PT said that I could experience swelling for months.  She said that for a knee it typically takes 3 months before you can do what you want to do, and 6 months to forget you had it done.  So I'm looking forward to Sept and December as key points in my recovery.

During the night, usually by around 4 or 5 am, Bessie is getting grumpy.  By that time it is hard to find a comfortable position for longer than about 20-30 min. because of stiffness.  I usually have to get up to go to the bathroom anyway, so I either walk around a bit, or sit up in the chair for 30 min or so, and that seems to help.  Then I can get back in bed and go back to sleep.

Also, as I side note, I have been totally off my cane - even outside - since Tuesday, July 16 which was the 5 week mark.

I'm sharing this partly for my own record keeping, but also for those of you who are headed for surgery yourselves in the future.  I urge you all to record your experiences because it is very helpful to be able to see the progress in quantifiable terms.

Thanks for reading!  It is a rainy day here in Central Ohio today, but this front coming through should break the humidity which has been horrid for the past week!

Talk to you again soon!

:)Amy