Tag Archives for Pain Medication

Outshining A Mockingjay

I slept through my mid-morning medication alarm yesterday morning, which set my day back by a few hours. When I woke up and took my pain medication, it was about 11:45 AM. I took my medication but couldn’t manage to stay awake. Lucky for me, my friend J isn’t a stranger to the risks associated with making plans with me. I finally called her around 1:00 in the afternoon – I was supposed to have called her at 11:00 AM. After we talked and finalized our plans it still took a while for me to get my bearings so I could get moving into the shower and ultimately out the door.

The plan of the day was for us to see the last chapter of The Hunger Games movies: Mockingjay Part 2. We saw the first part together last year and vowed that we would see this one together. My friend J is a huge movie buff; and although she likes to see movies as soon as they are released in theatres, she waited for three weeks to see this with me because my pain made it impossible for me to go any sooner. Seeing movies with J is one of the things I look forward to doing now, not simply because it gets me out of the house, but because we always have a great time and getting lost in a movie takes my mind off how I’m feeling for a few hours.

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2

Mockingjay Part 2 didn’t disappoint. The opening scene picked up where the last movie left of perfectly. It was a little strange to see Philip Seymour Hoffman in a newly released movie, but I think the character he plays would have been missed. Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss Everdeen dominated the story and the screen and there were some unexpected twists. Overall, I thought it was a good 2 1/2 hours with the right balance between drama, action, and my pain.

After the movie, J and I followed through with the usual ending to our movie outing routine and grabbed some food to take back to my place for dinner. We hung out for a few hours more. While eating we caught up on what’s been going in our lives in the past few weeks that we hadn’t covered in any of our check-in calls. I also finally gave her the presents I got her for her birthday, which passed a few months ago – I had a bit of trouble remembering to order them in time for the actual day. As I hoped, J loved the presents, and I must admit putting a smile on her face beat out a day at the movies with the Mockingjay.

 

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 Official Trailer

 

Pain Clinic #7: Trying Alternative Pain Treatments

I had my third appointment at the pain clinic since having surgery in August. Each appointment I have makes me aware of how fortunate I am to have access to such an incredible resource. My pain may not be gone, but I have specialists working to support me and trying to find the root cause – and hopefully the cure – of my pain. My primary doctor at the pain clinic is a wonderfully compassionate woman who is open to exploring as many alternative treatments as possible to treat my pain.

During this appointment, we reviewed my pain medications. I’m still taking a considerably higher dose of the opioid pain medications than I was before surgery, but I’ve been trying to decrease the doses over the past few months. I’m keeping a daily log detailing how much I take throughout each day. My pain specialist encouraged me to continue keeping this log because it’s helping to identify trends in my pain. I can pinpoint when I have a pain flare up and what activities may cause it, and whether I need to increase the doses of my pain medications. To support these trends she wrote me prescriptions for each of my pain medications with quantities large enough for me to increase or decrease my doses as my pain dictates.

Acupuncture was the next thing we discussed. My pain specialist is a trained acupuncturist. By all accounts, she’s highly skilled. Knowing that as a medical doctor – she’s an anesthesiologist – she has a holistic approach to treating pain makes me feel encouraged. One of my next appointments with her will be in the treatment centre of the pain clinic – where I had my nerve block  – for acupuncture. Her hope is that acupuncture treatments will help to reduce my pain and my need for such high doses of pain medications. My hope is that the treatments will deliver those results, and much more.

We also talked about the Mindfulness-Based Chronic Pain Management (MBCPMTM) program offered at the same hospital as the pain clinic. The program teaches patients “how to manage their chronic pain and illness through Mindfulness and meditation practice, and better lifestyle skills.” It’s based on the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Program (MBSR) originated by Jon Kabat-Zinn. My pain specialist is referring me to the program to give me another option for managing my pain. The idea for me to try this program originated with my therapist because our therapy sessions include mindfulness practices. My pain specialist believes this program will be a beneficial addition to the practices I’m already including in my life to cope with my pain. I believe, whatever the outcomes, I have an incredible support system that keeps working to find solutions to get me pain-free.

 

Third Eye Blind – Semi-Charmed Life

 

The Last Post-Surgery Check

I’ve hit the six-week mark since having surgery without any major complications: my incision is healing well and I didn’t have any infections. I had my last check yesterday with the gynecological specialist who pushed to get something done to get me better and was a part of my surgical team. From his perspective, everything looks good. He reviewed the pathology reports he requested on the growth he removed from my pelvis, my fallopian tubes, and all the adhesions that stuck that growth to my rectum and my fallopian tubes to my ovaries. All the reports came back with no sign of cancer, endometriosis, or any other diseases for concern. He also assured me that there is very little chance of the growth recurring.

However, he wasn’t happy to hear that the surgery didn’t help to reduce, or what he had hoped, end my pain; or the fact that I’m now taking three times the level of pain medication I was taking before the surgery. He examined my incision; ordered some tests, and then scheduled my next appointment for six months from now. We also discussed the pain clinic’s plan to manage my pain moving forward. In the near future, my pain specialist will attempt to manage my pain with acupuncture. The gynecological specialist assured me that my pain specialist is a very skilled acupuncturist. As much as I like her, feel comfortable with her, and trust her many years of experience; it was comforting to get that vote of confidence in my pain specialist from one of her colleagues.

I left my appointment feeling confident, which has only happened a handful of times during the past two years. Everything isn’t perfect, but now that my surgery is behind me, the growth is no longer in my pelvis, and it was clearly benign; my doctors and I can focus on my pain. We can focus on finding a solution to eliminate it because now we know that the growth may not have been the direct cause of my chronic pain, although, it might have been the catalyst that triggered it. The discovery of the growth also raised awareness about the unusual way my body processes high levels of pain. Now my doctors just have to figure out what to do to make me pain-free again.

 

The Police – King of Pain