I had my gallbladder removed yesterday. It went well and the 3 stones were nicknamed Daddy, Mommy and Baby!
I had a moment of pause after the surgery when the nurse asked me what types of post-op pain meds I've tolerated well. I had given this a lot of thought in the days before the surgery. Here I am, trying to break a 2 year addiction to Norco (hydrocodone 10/325) and have been slowwwly tapering since I began posting on this thread about a month ago.
So what I said was: As you can see, I've had a lot of surgeries and because of that, I've gotten dependent on them. I've been taking Norco for the last 2 years because of my back and am tapering off of them as my back heals. I don't want to un-do everything I've worked so hard in the last month. I don't have many more Norcos left so I want to continue using them and I want you to only give me enough new meds to get me through 1-2 weeks of post-op pain.
She was very compassionate yet took me seriously and asked me about my tapering schedule, to see (I think) if I was tapering too quickly (and thus possibly more prone to relapse). We counted out the number of pills and that's what I got. They gave me Percoset 5/325, (The VA doesn't have Norco in its formulary). I gave the pills to my mother-in-law who drove me home and has been taking care of me while Wife is at work.
It's a lot of pain but I feel "good" in that I feel like I am in control of not only my present...but my future. I feel good that I was honest and not ecstatic that the surgery would yield me another supply of "goodies". I feel good that I told my primary doctor that I would not overlap the VA's post op meds with another refill from her.
Sure I have anxious moments and mentally this has been rough but I am remembering old me, who didn't need pills to get through the day.
Glad to read the surgery went well enough that you can joke about the stones and nickname them. Chuckles.
It was so good to read what you shared about how you handled the meds. Really good job on your part and a good lesson to us all about being honest when having any medical procedures in the future. We won't be denied what we medically need and be made to suffer unnecessarily. Tell the truth and the doctors and nurses will respect that and work with us.
Droopy, you are really moving into recovery with the sober thinking. My thinking also went through changes in sober thinking as I tapered. I guess whether we taper or go cold turkey, there is always going to be that elemant of time that is needed for the thinking to evolve.
You did such a good job of it all... told the nurse, handed the pills over to someone... good, solid practical steps to help insure that narcotics become balanced in the way we think about them.
Keep working it, Friend. It is so happening for you.
here's to a speedy recovery and lots of hope for a wonderful future.
That most definately is an inspiring story...Great job on handling things, and may you have a speedy recovery! Did they do it lyproscopically? Thanks for sharing!!
I had to laugh because when I read your post I thought, he acted so mature and like an adult which made me think about my addiction and how maybe it is just immaturity, wanting to be high like in college, not wanting to give into being an adult. That is probably the last thing I have had to give up. (I'm a grammy to boot). Getting high. (But still being able to function). Maturity is such a dirty word in my mind, I need to stop and change that behavior. Anyway, I had a terrible gall bladder attack yesterday, almost drove myself to the emergency. Then, the pain stopped. about 3 hours after I ate 4 link sausages I got the pain and it lasted about 4 hours and poof, stopped. Is that common? just the beginning? It happened once before after a bunch of bacon on vacation. My Dr. said it was a flair up and to stay away from greasy foods. Enough of me. You are doing wonderfully well and I have learned a lot from your post. Thank you.
