Want to introduce myself

[lightseeker]

Hello -

I've been checking the New Posts and keep getting drawn into threads in this forum. I've been a member of SR since May '05 and have met a lot of you. I mainly post in friends/family of substance abusers just because that is where I started out. In April '06 and picked up a white chip and have been sober since. I go to AA and have loved the fellowship that I have found there.

I'm having ankle reconstruction surgery in the morning and then have the next two months off of work (I am a physical therapist and the hospital won't let me come back until I am 100%)....I plan on being around SR a lot during that time. This is my first experience with pain pills in sobriety and I have a healthy fear/concern. My sponsor is close at hand and I'm getting to a meeting as soon as I can. I've been honest with her and told her that I can't lie - there is a part of me that is giddy about the pain management options. I don't want to be sicker than that secret and I just wanted to tell on myself. I've arranged to have a local anesthetic pain pump for the first 3 days so I won't have to utilize the narcotics so much. I've got a lot of safe guards in place but I'm mainly worried about it waking up the addict in me.

FEAR, huh? Glad to have ya'll as a resource.

Thanks!

[51anna]

Hi Lightseeker,

Welcome to the women's forum.

I think you have a good attitidue and being prepared and being cautious will help you a lot. I wish you well with your surgery and hope to hear from you when you're able to post.

[Brittany Marie]

Welcome!

Best wishes with your surgery and recovery.

x

[serenityqueen]

Prayers for a quick recovery and as painless as possible surgery!

Sounds like you have a great game plan in place. I have never heard of the local anesthesia pain pump and that sounds awesome. Sooner or later, I'm going to have to have major knee surgery and knowing something like that exists has eased my mind quite a bit when considering future surgery.

I bet your Sponsor and a few others in the Program would be more than happy to bring a meeting to you until you can get to one. I've went to many at home meetings for someone who was unable to get out of the house.

I'll be with you in spirit and wish you the best. I look forward to getting to know you better over your recouperation.

God Bless,
Judy

[laurie6781]

Hi Lightseeker, good to see you over here!!!!

I'm having ankle reconstruction surgery in the morning and then have the next two months off of work

I just had my 2nd knee surgery (1st one was left knee in November 1 BIG tear) this time *(on Thursday afternoon) it was the right knee and I had 4, yes 4 tears.

Something I have found in sobriety (yes I am an alkie, but used one h*ll of a lot of drugs too) is that I seem to be able to take the pain meds exactly for what they were designed for, TO MAKE THE PAIN BEARABLE.

I know you can do this, I just know you can. I will PM you my phone number, so feel free to call and I will call you back (I have CHEAP CHEAP long distance, 24/7 lol and use it a lot!).

Use SR, whine, moan, complain, vent, scream, cry, and yes even laugh. We are here for you. Surgery is no fun. Recovery from this type of surgery is certainly NO FUN AT ALL, but you know what?? WE ARE STRONG and we can and do do it.

Prayers and good thoughts winging their way from NM to NC.

Love and hugs,

[lovingseren]

Lightseeker,

I wish you a speedy recovery.

It is good to "meet" you!

Seren

[Klynn33]

Hi lightseeker,

be thinking of you, and hoping that your surgery and recovery goes well!! sounds pretty serious.........
Pain pills are what I'm coming off of, and they're so easy to get addicted to. You already have told people about your fear of what could happen, been honest about was has happened in the past, and have a plan in place. Good for you! (not sure I would be strong enough to bring that stuff up if in your situation)
2 months is a long time for you to get yourself healed again and be off work. I hope you are around here lots in that time and that we get a chance to hear more from you!!

good luck and take care

[kj3880]

I got on the pain pills after a surgery, nightmare to come off of. So I think your concern is justified. Glad you aren't underestimating the risk. Take all the precautions that you can. This very fear has me putting off some surgeries for the next year or so. I'll be around to talk, glad to meet you!
kj

[Rowan]

Welcome to the women's forum - I'm so glad you joined us in here.

I look forward to hearing more from you after the surgery. Will keep you in my prayers.

[Butterflywoman]

I use narcotics for pain management. The only "high" I get is pain relief. I follow the dosage to the letter. Sometimes I am tempted to take more but I don't. The temptation is about the same as wanting a second helping of food and walking away from the table. You get used to it. The drugs do not trigger an overwhelming obsession to take more. If they did I would stop. I believe everybody has a different experience and should make up their own mind and proceed carefully through trial and error. I hear a lot at meetings about people who forgo pain meds but I am not going to suffer.

[DSodaNow]

Thanks for the intro! I wish you the best of luck with your surgery. It sounds like you have taken all the right steps beforehand to stay inline. Feel better soon!

[BUTTERFLY-7]

[lightseeker]

So far so good. I am not enjoying the pain meds in the least and that is a good thing. They are making me nauseous and itchy. However, they are needed. This is really hurting. My local pain pump (OnQ) ran out today and it made a huge difference. Anyway, I think the thing that has helped me the most is to speak up about my fears and tell on myself. I have a limited number of meds with no refills. Don't feel inclined to abuse them and get stuck in the process of it all.

Thanks!

[CarolD]

Healing prayers coming your way

[Digginit]

Just thinking of you. Wondering how you're doing a few more days out. That was a big operation, and I hope you're more patient than I am...lol

Peace~
dig

[lightseeker]

Hi Dig!

Glad to hear from you. I've been thinking about you and hope that you are doing well. This was a bigger deal than I anticipated. It's funny really because one of my identified character defects is denial and perception issues....certainly did this about this surgery. And I'm a physical therapist! I am still stuck on the couch - having horrible muscle spasms in my leg when I get up. I'm not even stir crazy it hurts so bad.

Doing ok with the pain meds. Starting to taper down. I can tell that there is a part of me that is looking forward to the initial rush when they kick in...not good and I am telling on myself. Definitely am beginning to wean off of them before this gets to be a problem. Ice is feeling good but the splint is so solid that it's hard to really get it cool.

My sponsor is picking me up in the morning to go to a women's meeting - need to get to one before this isolation thing begins to get too comfortable.

Are you up and going now? (at least for the time being). Hope that you are doing well! Happy 4th!

[Digginit]

I've been getting around more than my ortho really wants me to, because I tolerate pain better than I tolerate sitting still. My surgery was much more tolerable than what you went through, though. I'm not bouncing back as easily as I did with the last knee scope, but I also had a bunch of osteophytes cut out of the great toe MTP joint from an old turf toe injury. I guess also the lack of cartilage in my knee this time may make recovery a little more painful--he abraded the bone to make it bleed and hopefully stimulate a little fibrocartilage growth. We'll see.

Had a neat thing happen yesterday. Gonna cut and paste from a pm I sent a buddy of mine on my skydiving forum....

Flew for the first time in months. As we were flying around South Arkansas, we found ourselves over Star City. It's a small town, and there's a religious sect of some sort there that operates a place called The Village. At the Village are a bunch of shops and a few really good restaurants....BBQ being one of them.

Star City, being so small, I told Bill (my instructor) that I could probably find the Village from the air, even though I wasn't sure exactly where it was located. Found it easy enough, not far off the south end of the runway...just a few pastures and fences between us and them. Figured we'd land and hitch a ride over for lunch and then hitch a ride back.

Was just a few minutes before a truck drove into the airport, and they were easy to convince that we "needed" BBQ...lol. They took us to the Village. It wasn't quite 11:00 yet, so the BBQ place wasn't open. We looked through the leather shop, the upholstery shop, and were in the furniture shop when I heard "Auntie Lindsey," and soon had my two little neices from Iowa attached to my legs!

My brother and his family were down visiting my dad. They had decided to take my grandmother who is 89 years old to the Village for BBQ too. HA! Star City's about an hour from our town. What a funny reunion. Got to visit for a minute, and we found our ride back to the airport easily, and strangely, enough.

Anyway....thought I'd share. Hope you're able at least to watch a few firecrackers pop today. Happy 4th to you.

~dig