Pain Management

Okay, surgery was the day before yesterday. Let’s talk about pain.

Supposedly rotator cuff surgery is one of the more painful operations you can have. Opiates are prescribed after surgery. Once the block wears off they say you better have the narcotics running through your veins. Lovely, just, lovely.

To make these two trains pass, but not collide, as directed I took one 5mg oxycodone about 8 pm. This was after the surgery which started at 2:30 pm.  I was almost at my sister’s house, 30 minutes from Dad’s. He’d finished the drive home.  Figured shortly thereafter, I’d be conked out in my electric monster recliner, purchased just for this operation.

I had not much to eat since midnight 21 hours earlier. Crackers and pretzels.  As little as that was I almost lost it all in the kitchen sink five minutes after we got home. Flashes of seasickness floated before me, but as quickly as it hit, it thankfully subsided.

At 11 pm I ate a ½ of a roast beef sandwich that I had packed for my sister and Dad’s afternoon wait while I was in surgery. Then I downed another 5 mg of the Big O. The nerve block wore off about three that morning. Recalling the horrible pain level I had after knee surgery I was going to be sure I was dosed. Per the instruction I took another pill at 3 am..  It was every 4 hours. And that was the last one I took.

By early morning I felt like puking again. I began to itch all over. Yet I tried to tell myself it was psychosomatic. Then in a brief conversation with a neighbor I realized I was becoming hoarse. All symptoms of an allergic reaction. Great.

The hospital told me to quit taking it. Duh. And they added oxycodone to my allergy list. But I was left with Tylenol and marijuana.

I’m not a user, but I got a hold of some as an alternative to the narcotic.  I discussed this with the anesthesiologist. She in turn discussed this with the surgeon. He asked if I had been in any pain last Thursday. That was my experimental light up conducted in the basement of my father’s house.  I said no. His response was he wasn’t giving it any credibility to manage my pain since I wasn’t in pain during the experiment. Take the prescription narcotic.

I feared the worst. Who takes a prescription drug for the first time and expects to become addicted? No one, but I wasn’t going there. No pain and marijuana was my preferred route.

Without the oxycodone in my system I waited for the pain to roll over me. While there was some, nothing like expected.  I stayed on the Tylenol every eight hours. It kept the dull ache in check. By today, day three, I extended the doses out to every 10 hours.  No pain except when I do something stupid, like flinch in reflex. That arm ain’t going anywhere in that sling.

As far as the dope? I had a damn good buzz on Thursday. Yesterday afternoon, I took a couple of hits. Suddenly the jig saw puzzle looked easy. This morning when I went to to the basement to hang up some clothes, God it stunk down there. Note to self: take it outside.   I have a little stash that no one will find unless they decide to stir fry. And unless I decide to become a recreational pothead at 62…it will go stale in the wok. 

Oops.

Surgery

Today is the big day. See you on the other side.

Living History

Never saw it coming. The next thing I knew I was falling through the hot Jersey Shore air, landing along the roadside, feeling grit grind into my shoulder, forearm and calf. At 19, I popped right back up in time to see a car barrel down the road to Newark or some other God-forsaken grime town in New Jersey. The car behind the accident stopped to tell me I had been clipped by a car. I ordered them to go get the plate. I dusted myself off, examined the bike’s damage. It was a friend’s and I had borrowed it during the Fourth of July weekend.  That was 1973. 

Nothing ever came of this accident, but that was probably the first time I injured my right shoulder. I suspect my rotator cuff tear is a result of lifetime of injuries and use, aggravated last year when my job changed to the backroom. Heavy lifting overhead, and climbing ladders required.

Back in graduate school, 1984, I was playing pick-up soccer one September afternoon. I got clocked by some girl. Well, I think it was a girl. Felt like a truck when I was flat out on my belly arms splayed out mainly to keep my face out of the turf. Didn’t work. And a few days later my shoulder didn’t work. School doctor put me in a sling. Bursitis, he said. When it froze up a few days later, I had my first physical therapy experience. I faithfully did the exercises. Arm seemed fixed.

Smashed into a car eleven years ago while on my way to the pool. A passenger opened a car door on me. Boom. Right there in Kona, HI a few days before Iron Man.  I picked myself up, got no apologies from the foreign punk and went onto the pool after stopping by my hairstylist to get a few band aids. Figured I’d be sore for a few days so I might as well swim while I could.

And then last year my right shoulder just started hurting. Day and night. My sister Robin and my Dad were coming for a visit, so I figured a couple of weeks rest from work… didn’t improve it.  Outrigger canoeing with my sister didn’t help either.  When I returned to work I was using heat, ice, KT Tape, massage. Nothing stopped the ache.

I tried to get an MRI scheduled prior to my return to NY. Couldn’t make that happen, but I was able to see a Physical Therapist and she, in just a matter of a few days, got my range of motion back, eliminated the ache during the night and when I pulled myself up on ladders at work. A miracle.

Except doing the littlest things at the least expected times would shoot pain through my shoulder.  So when I returned to Hawaii, I scheduled an MRI. Finally, in April I was told I had the tear. A significant tear.  I remember the news. It was upsetting. I held back the tears as best I could as the doctor told me I should have surgery. Six weeks in a sling. Months of physical therapy. All I could think about was how would I ride my scooter with a sling on.  Later I wondered how I was going to wipe my butt. And a whole lot of other things began to cross my mind. 

Documentation

This video documents what my shoulder can do and looks like four days before my rotator cuff surgery.

Still August

Guess it is best to get started before I have the use of only one arm. I've neglected the blogs for over a year, when Dad and I were on the RV trip to The Thousand Islands.  With so much sightseeing and spotty Internet connections I didn't do much posting, but I was writing in the late evenings after Dad had gone to bed. I laid in the sleeper over the cab in the SunRader, headlamp around my forehead, propped up on the sleeping bags packed for cool August nights that never materialized along the mighty seaway, The St Lawrence River.  And in the morning I'd search for a hot spot to connect my laptop to the Internet. Finding electricity was often as difficult as finding WIFI.  I gave up, to enjoy being on the road, hanging with Dad, enjoying upstate New York.

Now a year later, I have yet to post some of those blogs. Nobody was begging for them. And I anticipate no one will be begging for this one either. But this one is for me.

In a week, I'm having rotator cuff surgery. Six weeks in a sling. And in a week, August melts into September, my least favorite month. It always seemed to me that once Labor Day passed and school got back into session, the temperatures dropped out of the sky along with frost, leaves and snow. It was September’s fault. And now, I'm going to physically and mentally plow my way through the month with my right arm in a sling.

My mission: occupy myself. I have a dozen things to do. And some will take me through four to six months of recovery and physical therapy.

1.     Be patient. I got all day to wash, dress and take care of self.  I've been practicing.

2.    Get off pain meds as soon as possible. 

3.     Journal about the stuff I can and can’t do. Be mindful that this disability is temporary, while others have permanent disabilities. Show gratefulness for healing.

4.     Draw, sketch and pencil.

5.    Read to enjoy and to learn. Might have to convert these books to digital as holding books with one hand is cumbersome.

a.       Bone Tree

b.       History of the Jews

c.       Defeating Jihad

d.       Battle for the Soul of Islam

6.    Crossword and word unscramble.

7.    Puzzles – jig saw

8.    Daily walks of six or more miles. High bar is ten miles. To Saratoga, Greenfield, Corinth, Saratoga Lake, infinity and beyond.

9.    Watch weight and diet while eating simple proteins to build and repair muscle.

10.  Listen to Dennis Prager. There’s three hours a day.

11.  Be kind to Dad. At 92, he is taking care of me and my cats.

12. Read a chapter of Proverbs daily.

That ought to keep me from lamenting September in a sling.