#i feel like puking half of the time can't move headaches all that stuff

[changeling-of-the-fae]

Post-Op Day 4

Today has been exceedingly educational. Aka, when everyone says "don't stop taking your meds" you should probably listen:

You might need them for longer than you think.

I tried to taper off the percocet - I did fine with 12 hours between doses, so buoyed by my previous success and relative lack of pain, I tried to hold out for 24 hours.

That turns out to have been a mistake.

I have writer brain, so I'm filing this all away for future reference. But I understand now that people react very differently to pain. I think I always sort of knew that, just like I know sometimes I feel sick because I have a bad headache, and not because my stomach is upset.

I saw a lot of posts about people crying, or screaming, when they didn't keep up with their post-op meds (or waited until the nerve block wore off to take them.)

I didn't see anything about throwing up, so I'm going to add my experience to the hat which is to say:

Pain makes me nauseous. I felt sick to my stomach before I even realized I was in pain. When I did, it was that burning again - only worse. I've never been tazed, but I'm imagining it feels something like this, on your whole leg.

Imagine someone replacing your leg with a hot fire poker.

The good news is, percocet kicks in pretty quick. So after white knuckling it for about 30 minutes, hoping it would just pass, I gave up and went for the meds.

I will say, my diversion tactics seem to work to a certain extent - pain is noise and if I give my brain enough other noise to focus on, it seems to help.

Some of it is literal noise - apologies to my eardrums, but it's for a worthy cause. And the rest is sensory - I refilled my water bottle with cold water and put it against the side of my face. I'm not saying I could have functioned in that state, but it was slightly more bearable (and I managed not to puke while waiting for the meds to do their thing.)

Tomorrow we're going to stick to the 12 hour schedule, but on half doses. Just to be on the safe side.

I took my notes and that's not an experience I care to relive.

On a bright note, I finally started Horizon: Forbidden West today. I set it to Ultra Hard to make it last as long as possible - so far so good, since I haven't managed to beat the tutorial boss.

It'a good to have goals.

And skills - I've gotten really good at using my non-op leg to move my bad leg around. I had a lot of practice since I injured it mountainside, then had three days before leaving, then on and off the plane and back to the airport again, and all the time after when my quads weren't firing.

Nurse Hottie was shocked post-op by how well I could maneuver without help. I didn't consider it much, but now I'm remembering a friend explaining how she had to hold her son's leg when he went to the bathroom or showered, and how it was awful for both of them because sometimes she would drop it on accident.

Which is a lot of words to say that no one can be as careful with your knee as you are, and I've been really lucky because I've been managing without a designated Leg Lifter.

Which is probably why I was so startled today when I finally dropped my leg for the first time. I've been elevating on an wheeled ottoman, with stuff behind it so I can't accidentally slide it away. The problem is that then it's in the way when I want to get up, and I can only push it so far, so I need someone to slide it the rest of the way.

Well. They did that thing, but boy was I ever not ready. I'm not sure who was more surprised when my leg came crashing down. It hurt (surprise surprise), but I'm pretty sure it's going to take more than a little unexpected gravity to undo my surgeon's fine handy work.

My lesson here is to put up warning signs, by which I mean micromanage and advocate loudly for your needs to whoever is helping you.

It's one thing to hurt yourself, and another for someone who has no idea what hurts where to accidentally do it.

[notsodailycake]

God, I'm starting to have my health close to declining to GLBUH!Michael levels-