Steps to recovery #6 – Pain management

Here’s a recurring theme of posts over the past few weeks. How to manage the pain from surgery that continues 4 weeks on. Had a really good chat with a nurse from the GP’s surgery. He talked about keeping ahead of the pain – taking stuff to keep the pain managed rather than responding when pain flares up. In effect he was saying that managing pain when it is intense takes more effort and time.

Looking back than after day 1 it was about pain blocking. The epidural literary shut down my pain perception from my waist down to my thighs. Such a weird feeling.

The move from blocking to relief through tablets was not great. 12 hours of the body getting used to pain rather than avoiding it. Lots of Oral morphine and quite a few tears 😭

Since then it has been a mixture of codeine, paracetamol (tablets and liquid), ibuprofen and oral morphine.

The biggest challenge remains the wound area – both external and internally. As I have shared, I remain 3-4 weeks away from being able to sit. The pain is largely calmed but still has the ability to flare up.

Today I am now moving to 3 daily hits for cocodemol (lower level codeine and paracetamol). Morning lunchtime and bedtime. Over time the body should be able to accept and manage the pain. As ever, the longer night shift is always the harder one.

Oh yes, one last topic that came up yesterday – slightly less medical as a response. When I woke from my afternoon nap yesterday I had a drop in energy. Probably low blood sugars. Chocolate to the rescue 🍫 Luckily there was a pack of unopened matchmakers. 🤩