Pain problem persisting

Flower power

OUCH! No, I'm not talking about how much I am hurting, but rather how much it hurts to write a headline with such awful alliteration. But with laughter being the best medicine and all, I'm letting this go through (go through where? the copy desk?) to show that I still have a smidgeon of a sense of humor.

So as for the blog post:

I've been pretty stoical through much of what life has thrown me over the past 10 years, but the post-surgical pain after removal of the lesion on my kidney a week ago has really sent me through the roof.

Specifically I am talking about finding the right dosage of Dilaudid to manage the pain at home. I came home Monday with the dosage that was fine in the hospital: six milligrams of Dilaudid every three hours and two Extra Strength Tylenol every four hours. Yesterday it wasn't working. I stood in the middle of the kitchen floor crying, the phone in hand. I could hardly breathe. I called the urologist's office in Boston and a receptionist said she would mark my message URGENT. When an hour passed and nobody called, I paged Melissa. Bless her soul, as Joe Biden would say, She called back immediately. Just hearing her voice was comforting. She said she would have someone from Dr. Steele's office call this morning and I did, indeed, get a call from someone who explained that a pain spike after getting home is common.

You feel pretty good, like I did, so you overextend and then get set back. I knew to watch out for doing too much, but I didn't quite understand that just walking around the house requires effort.

They want me to walk, but the rest of the time I should do nothing. Yesterday I did empty the dishwasher and fold some clothes. I also stood up and sat 10 times to test my quads and did a little stretching. I thought I wasn't doing anything that would affect my incision but hey, genius, I should remember:

The toe bone's connected to the foot bone,
The foot bone's connected to the leg bone,
The leg bone's connected to the knee bone...

By the way, a nurse did finally call me back yesterday from Dr. Steele's office...around 5:30 after business hours. I missed the call and was told upon paging her that she was off-page. Joe wasn't home from work, so I was basically on my own until Melissa called. Just wondering, if a message labeled URGENT doesn't earn a call back in a reasonable amount of time, if it ever happens again should I say SUPER URGENT?

I passed the time yesterday before the extra Dilaudid took effect by clipping some flowers from the garden. This is probably off-limits. I stumbled a couple of times, looking over my shoulder to see if Joe had returned and caught me in the act. The flowers are such good medicine (to look at, not to eat, look at, although we do have nasturtiums, which my mother liked to put in salads.) I'm sure my mother would approve.

Today after having a muffin with Meryl, I took a mini-walk and lay on the couch talking on the phone. I had a deliciously nutritious lunch: two hotdogs with yellow mustard, wavy potato chips and a Coke. I also re-watched a great movie, "Crazy, Stupid, Love." Anyone have suggestions about other good movies to watch?