5 Days Post-Op....Pain Is Almost Unbearable....

Girly please take it easy if you are not resting the meds cant do their job. I know it hard when you have kiddos but please try and get some
You are in my thoughts and prayers

I was sent home with Darvocet & it worked better than the stronger Percocet. Go figure that one! VicoFen worked even BETTER. I had some left from pre-op. It also reduced the swelling because it has ibuproFen in it.

Now I just take 600-800 Ibuprofen (Motrin). I hope you feel better soon. Do you have a Swelly Belly Band or ice packs? I can not live without ice on me.

Hope you feel better! HUGS

Thanks cmlouviere! I have been resting all day and feel some relief from the pain. I may ask the doc about darvocet. That may be easier on my tummy too. I will try the ice on me tonight. My nurse called and was checking on me. I couldn't believe it. I guess I shouldn't be to down on my doc and nurse. Just my emotions are going crazy and when in pain everything gets clouded. I was just thrown off by the whole giving the demerol back. I didn't want to have to feel like a drug addict or anything..lol. I just want to heal and be better. I am one who usually doesn't like taking even tylonol.

I was sent home on percocet with no relief. My Dr. immediately changed my mediction and worked wonders. I had trouble passing gas and having a BM. I used a stool softner everyday and milk of magnesia every other day until I had a BM, which took 6 days. I continued to use the stool softner daily for the first couple of weeks to keep the stool soft. I am a nurse and work with surgical patients and we start our patients on stool softeners right away. But be sure to ask your doctor.

I'm curious as to whether they actually KEPT your Demerol, or whether they just wanted to SEE it.

The fact is that just because one is a doctor, or a nurse, one doesn't have a right to ANY medication. If your doctor needs pain medication for himself, he has to have a prescription just like you do. That would be a part of the checks and balances that prevent us from being treated by drug-addicted doctors. So for them to have actually TAKEN your medication is a gross violation, ethically and legally. Did you ask him what he was going to do with YOUR medication that you PAID for?

And since you PAID for your medication, or your insurance company did, how were you repaid for it? If someone else HAS it, then you have lost your medication AND your money, and your insurance company would be VERY interested in knowing about this.

One of my pet peeves with some doctors is that they forget, and they want you to forget, that you are paying them, and not the other way around. They have responsibilities to their profession, but also to you as a paying customer. Yours is bullying you, and you need to stop it.

Nightauel

He kept my medicine. I am going to ask him about this Monday when I go in. In the past when the pain meds wouldn't work (like when i had my babies) He would tell me to throw it away and give me something else that worked. My nurse practiotioner (who I saw Tues. too) made a comment. "Well, Teresa, I don't know what else we can give you. Your pain doesn't seem to be responding to anything. " In the hospital I had a bad experience with this. They didn't have a room on the woman's floor until the next day so I was stuck on the regular surgical floor. Well I had my surgery at 11 am and around 5am the next morning my morfin pump ran out of med. The nurse did not replace it. She just turned it off or something. Long story short. I went without pain med. until like 1pm that day. I was crying in pain. When they gave me something it was percoset by mouth. It didn't work. So I cried for a shot of demerol. (that worked in the past when i had my kids.) I told them pills weren't working and i wanted to speak with a patient's advocate. Well they decided that I was right and gave me a shot to control the pain and then stuck with demerol pills. Anyway when I called from home and told them the demerol wasn't working it was making me sick I guess that is when they got upset. I just don't know what to think any more. Like maybe this is my fault or something.

	Quote:
Like maybe this is my fault or something.

No WAY on G-d's green earth is this your "fault." You had MAJOR surgery one week ago, give or take. The initial medication they gave you (which I agree with Nightauel, should NOT have been turned in AT ALL -- it's YOUR money and YOUR medication to do with what you choose) didn't work for your particular pain. That has nothing to do with your "fault." It sounds like you've never gotten good control over the pain, and if you are caring for four young children, it's nearly impossible.

I didn't take my morphine pump past the first two times, mostly because it had me throwing up. The only thing that works for me is Vicoden, and only in a half-dose, so I essentially went without pain medication for the first two days (not that I recommend that, by the way ). I consider myself to have a pretty high pain threshhold...and those first five days I could in no way have taken care of children. I, too, had major groin pain for the first three weeks, for which I used ice semi-successfully. But my DH did all the kid care...and we only had one at home at the time. Mostly we shipped her out to friends' houses for the first few days.

Don't EVER let ANYONE bully you into thinking that an appropriate pain response to major surgery is your "fault." It is NOT, it is normal. You are likely overdoing as well (please tell me you aren't cooking, or reaching down to wipe runny noses, or whatever???). You need rest, and to find a medication that works well for you, and perhaps ice as well -- it's the only thing that worked well for me that first couple of weeks.

And you need documentation of what they did with YOUR medication. It's up to you to dispose of it, as I said before, not them. Their insurance didn't pay for it, and it does NOT have their name on the label. It is absolutely inappropriate and unprofessional to be angry with you because demerol made you sick (it has that effect on me, too ). No one should be making you feel like a "drug addict" simply because the first or even the second pain choice didn't work for you. I finally had the most success with the least nausea on Tylenol #3, using half Vicoden when that wasn't quite enough.

You said that you'd have some adult help this weekend. Please use this to rest up...absolutely NO housework! And keep trying whatever you need to to stay ahead of the pain, including rest, rest, rest!

It's very important that your doctor's office understands that you are aware their response to your needs was inappropriate. If you need your friend to call them, so be it. But that demerol belongs to YOU. In fact, if they did dispose of it, they are obligated by law to double-sign that it was "wasted" (that's the technical term that the nurses use) and they owe you a refund for whatever your payment was for the prescription.

Big, gentle, s heading your way. I hope you get the rest that you need and deserve this weekend...and stay away from snotty-nosed kids . Nothing like sneezing or coughing with a fresh incision. Been there, done that...and you deserve a break from this pain you've had.

Audrey

I'd start by asking him for my medicine back. It is your property, and even if he actually paid you for it, he has no right to it because it was YOUR prescription, and not his. All he's done under those circumstances is to purchase drugs illegally.

As far as a choice of pain medication is concerned, different things work for different people. I probably posted earlier that I could take either a Demerol or a Flintstone's vitamin and get the same effect. Even Demerol shots have absolutely NO effect on me, in any way.

My mom can take a Darvocet and be completely out of it for hours , and I can take two and work. She can't take codeine at all, but the Demerol works really well for her. Go figure.

And NO, this is not your fault in any way. It is your doctor's responsibility to YOU to help you manage your pain. Again, it's what he's getting PAID for. Best I can tell, he has mismanaged your pain right from the start. That is HIS responsibility, not yours. That's what he went to school for, and what he's getting the big bucks for. The trouble with pain is that if it gets ahead of you, it's nearly impossible to catch up with, and if you've got four kids to take care of, you are NOT PAMPERING THE PRINCESS and your pain is managing YOU. Stop it.

I'll get off my now, but keep us posted on what he says on Monday. Mostly, take much better care of yourself than it sounds like you are, keep ahead of the pain, and let whoever is availabe help you, or you'll be back in the !!!

Nightauel

Thanks Audrey and Nightauel s
I am going to have a nice talk with him on Monday. This weekend I am going to rest. Although my DF just yelled at me about the house because I was resting today. Boy did it hurt to try and yell back..lol. We are moving into a house from our apt. on the 27th. There is alot to be done to the house that we are moving too. My dad owns it and it is right across the street from alot of help. My dear aunt loves to watch the kids. We will be there all weekend and I am going to curl up on the couch and watch tv while she tends to them. Thanks so much for caring and I will keep you guys updated! s
Teresa

Tell your DF that I'm only about six hours away, and I'll be glad to come and kick his until his brain rattles. I had LSH, so I'm in a lot better shape than you are, and I CAN do it.

YOU stay in the and pamper the princess.

No moving anything, no cleaning anything, no washing anything, no stressing about doing any of those things.

Nightauel