Still Out of Commission, But Improving

Nicolaes Maes, Old Woman Dozing
Dutch, 1656
Brussels, Musees Royaux des Beaux-Arts

Almost another month has moved on since my last update on progress and things are getting better, though slowly.  My pain has lessened considerably.  I have now been off all the opioid pain killers for over two weeks, which means I am having to deal with the side effects of coming off them.  It's much worse than following my breast cancer surgery, mostly because that time, in spite of the complications, I was only taking them for about a month.  I've been taking some form of opioid since the beginning of July, so that's a much longer exposure or time to get acclimated to them.  The adjustment will take awhile, according to my pain doctor.  But the main thing is that I am off them now.  What was pain has been reduced to ache.  It aches a lot still, but not sufficiently to make me go back to the oxycodone. 

Among the side effects of dropping the oxycodone has been difficulty sleeping at night.  I can fall asleep quickly, but not stay asleep, awakening frequently, sometimes as much as several times an hour, and then have difficulty getting back to sleep.  Consequently, I sometimes fall asleep suddenly while sitting down.  It's been getting better the last few days, so maybe a corner has been turned.

My surgeon says that all looks good with the new architecture of my back on the inside and I don't need to see him till the end of March.  However, the restrictions still apply (no bending, lifting, twisting).  I still can't manage to do many things I was once able to do as I'm not strong enough right now.

Stamina is another issue.  I must walk, but can't really do a lot of walking.  I'm working on it, little by little.  When I saw the doctor last week I was able to tell him that I could walk half a mile.  This week I began working up to three quarters of a mile.  Maybe within the next couple of weeks I will be able to get as far as one mile.  I would be very happy with that, since it would offer more variety in where I can go on these walks.  And, best of all, the weather will be moving into spring soon!

This past week I have managed to resume blogging with two short posts.  Things will probably continue to be short for some time (unless considerable work was done on the subject before the disc ruptured) as I cannot sit for long.  Everything needs to be broken into small sessions in order to be accomplished.  Look for an upcoming longer work that was partially prepared before last July.

^{© M. Duffy, 2019}