Oh the pain!

Well this week has been a good week. Its amazing that on Sunday I was still too fatigued and nauseated to do anything, then Monday the switch flicked and its near normal Trev back. Whatever the reason, I'm taking it. Feeling pumped.

When I had my bowel surgery, every small procedure that the nurse wanted to do I would ask "will it hurt?".  Answer was always "No", or "maybe only a little". I learnt after that the nurses meant it won't hurt THEM (thanks Barb).

I started pre surgery for the pain on 6 Hourly panadenine forte, and endone as needed. These are pretty fast acting, kick in after 15 to 45 mins. When my liver started getting angry the docs got me on Targen 12 hourly. This is slow release, so got to take it on time, once the pain hits, it's too late.

I find I get anxious about the pain, as now that I have had it, once it kicks in there is no going back. I get in a bit of a spiral when the pain comes on, so it's important for me to keep on top of this. The Targen affects me pretty badly, spaces me out, world spins, increases nausea & fatigue, I certainly can't drive with it. This was one of my few options when the additional pain hit tho, I certainly don't want to have to goto hospital and get pumped with morphine again, man was that a bad experience. Panadeine and Endone I seem to deal pretty well with, as long as they hit the pain OK. It's a balance.

In talking with lots of people about pain meds, everyone is an individual about what works for them. For some, Endone is a huge relief, others, it gives them nightmares, others, it hardly tops the pain for them. So having a great mate help me through what works and what doesn't, calling me each day during the critical time to see how we should adjust, that was the winner for me. Thanks again Barb. But the thing here is that there is no point being stoic and strong and sitting there in pain not being able to move. The pain relief allows you to function in some way, and allows your body to do what it needs to do to heal rather than focusing on the pain issues. So, don't be a martyr.

My goal is however to pull back as much as possible on the pain meds. I slowly weaned myself off the Targen, that was a big win for me, pretty happy with that. Longer term goal now is to try and keep decreasing the other pain meds. It's a real balance though, as I still remember what the bad pain is like, and I'm very anxious that I don't want to go there again, but I am working on it, without being a martyr of course.

So dealing with the discomfort and feeling relatively comfortable.

Tomorrow is always another day.
Trev.