Tuesday, June 24, 2008

My first glimpse

I got a get well card (you know, as well as one can get with a pin in her foot) from a friend who shared a story about a friend of his. His friend had surgery and asked the doctor why he didn't tell her that it would hurt so much. The doctor said, well because you may not have had the surgery. Well DUH, that's a no-brainer. There is a reason that I maintain that my podiatrist is the master of understatement. This evolution has been difficult, more difficult than I imagined. Thanks William for the card and the chuckle.

I didn't write or blog much in the first couple of days because, frankly, I was sleeping and pretty darn doped up. I learned a number of things on this journey. Vicodin does nothing for me. Nada. Anesthesia is not my friend. I vomit, a lot. And a 40 something woman throwing up in a bucket is NOT a pretty sight - not evening being the one looking in the bucket. Add to it the fact that I couldn't bathe, drugs weren't helping the pain, not even Vicidon, I wasn't happy, my brand new screaming fast 4gb RAM, dual core chip WASN'T PICKING UP MY WIRELESS NETWORK and oh by the way, I had a pin in my foot, no wonder Paul wanted to got back to work. And fast. I wanted to go back to work to get away from this!

Eventually, we upgraded the pain meds and lo and behold, Percocet did the trick. A few comments on Percocet. Now painting the picture of me in bed, with my Bucket and my unwashed Billy Idol hair, betadyne-red foot with saturated wrap AND PIN and ice covering as much as possible and... we are on the phone with the medical professionals batting around medicines like I (we) are pharmacists. Truth be told, I have very little recollection of the medicine conversations between Paul and me and the medical professionals. I vividly recall the foot-on-fire feeling, and Bucket in my arms and the final decision to get the Percocet. Fine, I am thinking to my drug-induced self, get the damn Percocet and let's call it a shop, shall we?

So yesterday, I ended some other pain killer and decided that it was a good time to end the Percocet too. So at dinner, after my two Tylenol (which frankly come nowhere close to that Percocet feeling), Paul mentions that Percocet is an opiate. You know, Paul the chemist, Paul the engineer, Paul who should have been a pharmacist, Paul who knows everything.... I about spit out my food. An Opiate? OPIATE IF YOU MISSED IT. Holy crap - I had no idea that it was such a powerful drug and no wonder I felt so good!

I took a peek. I mean it's my PIN in my FOOT, albeit temporarily. I had to look. And let me just say that it isn't pretty. And there is a good reason that the podiatrist didn't show me the pin before surgery. There is a good reason that he didn't tell me how much it was going to hurt. He also forgot to get mention how my foot would swell and how disfiguring a pin in the toe would make it look. Let's just say it's going to be a while before I get another pedicure.

So I am back to me. No more bucket, no more pain meds, no more drug-hazed days. Just me with a couple of crutches hobbling around with a pin in my foot. And it hurts. And it is going to hurt for six weeks.

5 comments:

Paul's Blog said...

For the record, Percocet is also known as Oxycodone.

And in case you were wondering the chemical formula of this opiate is C18H21NO4...

Big Johnny said...

"no more pain meds"

Break out the hooch !!!

Lisa said...

Thank goodness you were weaned before some serious addiction overtook you and we had to do an intervention. Those are NEVER pretty...even with Billy Idol hair. Which is kinda cool looking, by the way.

Glad you're feeling less drugged. Oh, and PK? You're totally a chemist nerd.

L.

Paul's Blog said...

Remember to be nice to nerds, even chemical ones. Someday, you might be working for one!

Deirdre Honner said...

Let me just say that before moving on to the next post, there was nothing, and I do mean NOTHING attractive about me with Billy Idol hair. Given what I spend a month, I am trying not to look like him. ;)

And John, crutches are a little difficult to manage under the influence - drugs or hooch, dear.