Tag: mental illness

stitches are out

by Midnight Demon, posted in blogging, cauda equina syndrome, Chronic pain, chronic physical pain, CRPS, depression, mood disorders

Stitches are out

I had a very tiring day. I woke up with minutes to spare to catch the driver to get to the hospital. I am glad I dressed quickly. There was no traffic to the hospital so I was an hour early. I tried to get something to eat but they weren’t accepting cash so I didn’t get anything. I spent an hour in the empty waiting room waiting for the doctor. He took the stitches out and said things looked good. He said that the disc I was concerned about was compressing things so he fixed it. I don’t have to worry about it now. He did say that I had a dura tear that had to be repaired and that was why I had to lay flat. It took a good few days to be able to sit up right in bed. I still am not feeling well sitting up but I did okay on my way there. I had to walk all over because the place of pick up was at a different building than where my doctor’s office was. I am now paying for it as my foot has flared up.

I had a phone session with my psychopharm. We talked about how I was doing. She thinks part of the reason I am not so depressed is because of the anesthesia. She may be right. I don’t know how long the effect is going to be but it has been two weeks and despite feeling devastated at times, I feel okay. I told her that I was numb and I told her where. I felt funny telling her but she seemed to understand that this is complex and not something that is going to recover in a few weeks. It could be months before I have feeling back. Surgeon even said that. So I just have to take it day by day. She wants me to write more as she feels it could be a good coping mechanism. I cringed. I don’t see my writing as a coping mechanism. I just do it because it feels right. I have some things to express and I express them. They all go into a void for me and I don’t remember what I write usually. Granted right now I am not writing in despair or in a desperate state. I told her I haven’t felt suicidal but I have been hearing hallucinations of music that I have been having to take trilafon for. She asked if I had any side effects and I said my fine motor skills are affected. I can’t seem to hold a pen without shaking a bit. Writing is smooth once I start but I do tremble a little bit. I don’t know if it is anxiety or what but I hate that this is happening. I love writing in my journal and that this tremor is keeping me from writing when I need to. I also want to write to the therapist but I am not sure what to write. I will ask her when I talk to her next Monday.

My pcp messed up my pain meds so now I am behind a week with my other pain meds. He didn’t send off a 30 day supply. I now got to wait till this weekend to get it. I blame that stupid NP in the hospital for messing up the counts. I don’t know why she felt the need to give me a script when I already had a script and my doc would have done it not her. Would have been easier to do things through my pcp than through her anyways.

Surgeon asked if I was voiding and I told him I was. He asked if I could feel myself be full. I can at times but not 100% of the time. I still need to cath every day so I make sure that I am empty. Today I haven’t been voiding much on my own. I have had to cath because I just couldn’t feel full even though I know I drank enough that I should have been full. I still can’t believe this is my new life. It takes so much out of me knowing that I am not a full bodied person anymore. It kills me that this may not go away. I just worry about bowel accidents now because of feeling numb. I haven’t taken Miralax since I have been home. I keep forgetting to take it. It is hard because I don’t have a cup in my room to mix it up in. I keep forgetting to bring up a cup. I might use a water bottle for my mixing. I bought a 32 oz Gatorade bottle that I can mix my drinks in. I bought the powder to make Gatorade. I figure that might help cut down on buying the stuff. I would make a bottle now but my back is all locked up from this morning’s activities. I am really hurting. I am also so very tired despite taking a three hour nap. I just hope I am not up in pain all night because I slept during the day. I am feeling sleepy as I took my night meds an hour ago. I hope I am asleep before midnight. That would be good if I was able to sleep before midnight with no trips to the bathroom. Last night I woke up once or twice but was able to stay in bed. I didn’t have to use the bathroom. I think if I got up I probably wouldn’t have woken up at 9 like I did today.

Tomorrow PT is coming. I am not sure if nursing is going to come by or not. I usually will get a call in the morning if they are going to come by. I don’t think they need to because I saw the surgeon today and I am doing good. I am just worried about PT and what they will want me to do. I want to do what they ask of me but at the same time, I am not sure that I can do it. I forgot to ask the surgeon about it. Being fart brained didn’t help. I wish I had coffee before I left the house. It would have helped tremendously. I think I will have coffee tomorrow at my sister’s. She has a Keurig that is awesome.

post op day 12

by Midnight Demon, posted in blogging, Chronic pain, chronic physical pain, CRPS, depression, mood disorders

Post Op day 12

I am still not feeling up for much these days. I find that I am tired and don’t want to do anything. Occupational therapy came today and I hated the whole thing. She was late so I was waiting around for her. Normally I wouldn’t mind but I was tired and just wanted to lay down. Then she was talking about routines and shit and I am like I am still recovering. I am not that far from surgery. Slow the fuck down already. Just because you want to Netflix all day doesn’t mean I do. I actually don’t have a show I watch these days anyways. I still have been trying to get into Picard but it is hard because it brings up memories of the way things used to be. I can’t describe it more than that. I don’t have the words to.

Last night I felt devastated and I am still feeling this way. I am debating on texting my therapist but at the same time I don’t want to say it in a text what I feel because it is too long of a text to explain things. I just attempted to explain it to her but we’ll see. Maybe she has a way of telling me how to deal with this. I don’t talk to her again till next week. That is a long time to go with feeling like this. I hate that this is because of bathroom issues. I feel like things would have been okay if yesterday was a normal thing but instead it is my new normal for now and I don’t know how to deal with it. I know I might recover from this but right now it just feels like it isn’t going to happen. I talked to a friend and she said that after her surgery she was numb and has been since. I didn’t find this comforting.

I got to lay down again. This sitting up and then having to lay down really sucks. I can only seem to type for a little bit before I hit bottom. I hope this is just a temporary thing. I just wish I could speed things along but I can’t. Just got to take it day at a time, sometimes an hour at a time. Last night I found that I couldn’t do two flights of stairs in one day. I am craving a piece of rum cake from my brother in law’s party but I don’t want to tax myself. I would have to go to his apt to get the cake and that is two flights of stairs and I am not ready for that again.

Last night I also did my med box for week. It took me a little bit longer to do even if I was sitting. I am glad it is done so I don’t have to worry about missing meds. I do have a couple of refills at the pharmacy though. I hope to get them tomorrow but it might be Thurs when I might be able to go. Tomorrow is just going to kill me and I know it. I am going to be exhausted. I am exhausted just thinking about it. I just hope I can make phone calls if I need to. I do have a virtual visit with my psychopharm tomorrow. Just hope I am up for it. It is at the cusp at when I should be home again.

Feeling like shit and crap I feel awful

by Midnight Demon, posted in blogging, cauda equina syndrome, Chronic pain, chronic physical pain, CRPS, depression, mood disorders

Feeling like shit and crap I feel awful

I have been feeling weak all day. It is awful and there is nothing I can really do about it except fluids and rest. I have been trying to sleep but it hasn’t come. I am too anxious to sleep or sleep because of my med and bathroom schedule. I think once I am out for the night it will be good. I am still on steroids to calm this headache that pops up if I sit for too long. Tomorrow I need to call the surgeon as I have had some sweating on my back around the scar. It doesn’t smell horrible but the damn thing is dry otherwise so I don’t get it. Maybe I am just too hot for my own good, LOL. I just need to hold on for the next 15 hours or so when I can call the office. I don’t want to go to the ER if I don’t have to.

I asked my sister to take a pic of the scar and it looks good. No redness or swelling anywhere so this sweating is a mystery but then it could just be healing. I froze my room so am trying to warm it up again. I had opened the window the other day and had to close it as temp dropped to 39 outside and nearly 60 inside. I was cold and had to put on a long sleeve shirt. Hope that doesn’t contribute to the sweating episodes.

I have been in a weird mental state. I don’t seem depressed or suicidal and I find this somewhat disturbing that suddenly I am “fine”. I just worry about a setback. I sent a message to my therapist about it. Not sure if she read it yet. I haven’t gotten a response. I have a time tomorrow with her in the morning and I hope that I am semi awake. Our appointment last week didn’t go too well as I was out of it from meds. I still might be out of it as I feel so weak. I am trying my best to be with it but it is so damn hard. I just want to sleep but I can’t. so frustrating. I supposed if I took some Ativan or Zanaflex I would be out. Pain hasn’t been that bad today though I can’t seem to sit up straight without muscles tightening on me. The joys of recovering from back surgery. I am glad things went well and I can’t wait to talk to the surgeon about the surgery because I have yet to chat with him since before I was under. I have only seen his residents. This is partly due to the COVID-19 isolation that was going around the hospital so he wasn’t available. I am glad my pain is better but I am not liking the tightening of the muscles. I am glad I have Ativan as I think it works better than Zanaflex at times. But I might be biased. Benzos have always been good muscle relaxers. But the risk of addiction is what keeps them from being in use at times. And they are a hard drug to come off of when you want to stop them or need to stop them. Harder than anything, from what I heard. I hope I never have to find out because just missing a day and I am wicked sick with dizziness. I have been on Ativan for a while and know I have a dependence like you do most medications you take every day. I am sure if I were to stop my blood pressure meds there would be some side effects to that as well. Dependence is not the same as addiction. Addiction you need more of the stuff to achieve the high or whatever feeling you need. Dependence is when you are dependent on a substance through no fault of your own.

I just realized I haven’t done my meds for the week. I have Sunday meds so will do it tomorrow. I had planned a few days in advance just in case I wasn’t up to it. I am glad some planning worked. I have another few days of steroids that I need to fill my box with. I am taking it with Tylenol for pain. That is what they were giving me in the hospital so I am going with it. I will do my meds after my therapy appointment. I hope I am physically able to do it because it would suck to have someone else do it for me. It usually takes me ten minutes to do. We’ll see how long it takes with my back being the way it is. Probably will have to sit and do it not stand like I usually do. Standing has been a nemesis in all of this and I hate it. Just brushing my teeth hurts. I wanted to shower but I didn’t feel up to it. I don’t think I should take one while feeling like I am going to pass out. It might not be the best idea even if it makes me feel a little better. I will do that tomorrow. I need to change clothes anyway because of the sweating. I hope I sleep through the night. It has been a long time since I had a night where I didn’t wake up at 3 in the morning. I keep waking up because stupid bladder needs to be emptied. I am tempted to ask my uro for a foley just so I can sleep. But that might not help with the healing process of my bladder so I won’t call. I am tempted though.

one week post op

by Midnight Demon, posted in blogging, Chronic pain, chronic physical pain, CRPS, depression, mood disorders

One week post op

I just had a shower to get rid of the hospital smell and to wash my growing hair that needs it. It has been a few days since I last washed it. My mother dried my back and she said I was hairy. She doesn’t get it. HAHA I thought she would know by now that I am on hormones seeing as I have facial hair but she isn’t making the connection and I am not going to enlighten her.

My groceries came today from a different vendor. I had my niece help bring them to my room as I couldn’t carry it. I am not supposed to be lifting anything but it is hard remembering. After the groceries were put away, I took a nap until my sister got into an argument with her daughter. I had no idea what the fuck they were arguing about. My niece left shortly thereafter, before I got into the shower. It was nice to shower but very tiring. I don’t think people realize just how tiring it is for people with chronic illness and pain to shower. I know my fellow pain sufferers understand this.

I plan on making a steak for dinner. Hopefully it will give me the protein and iron I need to get to feeling better and not so tired all the time. I also bought chili which I will have tomorrow with some tortillas. I love making a burrito with the chili and eating it like that. I wish I bought red potatoes. I would love a red potato salad right now, with oil and vinegar not mayo. I love a potato salad with oil and vinegar. It tastes so good. I like it with mayo too but will prefer oil and vinegar.

I read a chapter in my book. Seems I can read a chapter and then lose interest when it comes to an end. I want to finish reading the book as it is due in a couple of weeks. I don’t know if the library will be open by that time. Everything is still in lockdown with the virus. I haven’t kept up on the reports for how long it will be as I have been staying off Twitter with my recovery. It is hard to listen to all day long and about the rebellion of youngsters or even others who don’t care about themselves yet profess to care for others. The real trenches are the lab workers and assistants to get blood samples and other specimens processed. There are also the cafeteria workers and cleaning people that always seems to get missed in times like this. They do their job without opposition and they are often down cast but without them, trash would just be piling up and no one would eat in hospitals.

My sister was telling me that there were 50 nurses at the hospital I was at with the virus. I hope they recover and don’t die. I don’t know the age groups but sad to think that healthcare workers aren’t immune to this kind of stuff. Front line people. Makes me sad.

My other sister made beets. I was craving them so I am glad she made them. They were good. Just roasted them with salt and pepper. I wish I had ranch dressing to go with them but I don’t. The hospital where I was has good beets you eat at the salad bar. They are yummy with ranch dressing. I miss eating in the café. Maybe when all of this is over I will get some beets during one of my visits. I am going there next week to get my stitches out. I didn’t have OT or PT call me today. I found that kind of odd. The orders are there for them to see me but I think with the way the virus is, they are limiting people into homes. Sucks all around.