Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Drains, Gauze and Bandages

The past few days have pretty much been a blur. I'm down to 2 percocet a day, but the pain and discomfort are still pretty bad. I think the worst thing is my right shoulder/underarm/tricep is numb. It feels like there is a roll of toilet paper shoved under my arm. Every once in a while there's shooting pain, but the numbness is driving me crazy. I also have a lot of lower back pain from the strain of sleeping slightly elevated.

I called Dr. B on Monday because I didn't remember being numb before and it started bothering me late Sunday. He said it could be from the bandage being tight so we could try to loosen it. We did that and I got about 2% relief. The problem isn't so much the bandage but the 2" deep packs of gauze underneath which make me feel like I have a gauze & bandage shield of armor on.

The other thing he sad was the numbness may be permanent. Huh??? Apparently the cancerous lymph node was very close to my nerve. So only time will tell if the nerve was damaged from surgery. I don't remember numbness coming up in conversations of possible side effects from surgery. I think it's just from the bandages but I guess only time will tell.

My drains (aka - grenades, canteens or testicles) are still annoying but there's not so much in them any more. Here's what they look like:

I am going to see Dr. B tomorrow to get the drains and bandages removed. I CAN NOT WAIT to get this stuff off of me. When I was in the hospital he told me to give a call on Thursday morning to come in for an appointment, but even in my morphine induced, post-operative state I was smart enough to quip back- "how about I call on Wednesday and see you first thing on Thursday. "

3 comments:

Caits said...

KC! Lookin' good with those grenades!!!

I hope your numbness goes away..ugh.

MamaBlue said...

Hey, I have been thinking about you. Knowing you, I figured you had updates on the blog! I will be at my house on Saturday and want to drop something off for you. I will leave it at the front door if you are not up for visitors.

Anonymous said...

My name is Mike Conlin and i would like to show you my personal experience with Percocet.

I am 20 years old. Have been on Percocet for 25 days now. This drug works very well for pain, however be aware that it is EXTREMELY ADDICITVE if not taken appropriately. Dependence/tolerance is easily built up, and it will make you feel euphoric if enough is taken. My best advice is to throw them out if you ever feel you are taking them for anything other then the exact reason they were prescribed

I have experienced some of these side effects-
dizzyness, lightheadedness, a sort of euphoric feeling, odd dreams, drowsyness and also itchyness. The itchyness is very sporadic (for lack of a better word) and comes in different spots all over my body, although not very intense if taken appropriately.

I hope this information will be useful to others,
Mike Conlin

Percocet Prescription Information