Ice Cube Meals

Trying To Stay Hydrated

Went to my PCP yesterday, have another appointment with him Monday.  My feeling ill has him thinking that maybe I should go back inpatient to keep dehydration at bay.  He told me to just concentrate on keeping fluids down right now, to heck with real food for the time being.  I definitely don't want to go back inpatient as I just don't have the time to be there.  Too many things to do for work!

He asked how my pain was doing, and I told him I had quit taking the oxycontin because all it did was kill the background pain (which is considerable) and the BIG PAIN The Belly causes wasn't effected at all by it.  I couldn't tell if the confusion was from being sick or from the medication, and since it only worked about half as good as it should, I quit taking it.  Since the confusion stuck with me, I guessed it was from being sick.

He now has me taking dilaudid instead, which is killing the pain.  I cannot take it at the frequency he prescribed or I would be knocked out, but just one pill a day is helping the pain tremendously.  I am trying to work from home (got the VPN connected today - they had made changes unbeknownst to me) as best I can.  I am resisting taking the medication until I can't take The Belly pain anymore, and then I'm taking it and after that I am trying to go through a big glass of ice chips.  Other liquids right now are coming back up.  The ice chips seem to tell The Belly it has had something to eat, and numbs it at the same time.  This is still an iffy proposition since not all of it is staying down, but I am looking much better today than yesterday.

Since I am trying to keep the fluids in me, I haven't hardly even been eating my saltines - these last few days have been really yucky.  I'm bumming.  On the up side I am losing weight!  But my face feels puffy - weird - maybe it's the dilaudid.  And if I am rambling on in my posts its probably because of the dilaudid.  I don't feel over drugged (probably because the pain is soaking the dilaudid up) but I am still feeling very confused. My thoughts are disorganized, and generally that is the only tidy thing about me.  In fact I'm think I'm just going to blame everything for the next few days on the dilaudid.  I need a good scapegoat!

I cancelled my appointment with the A-Team this week, as I am just too sick to make the drive there, and rescheduled for next month.  My PCP told me to not to worry about the physical therapy for a while until The Belly calms down.  My study coordinator Lilly at the Cleveland Clinic called and I won't have to go back to Cleveland for my final visit.  Yeah!!!  She is so nice I will miss getting to talk to her now and then.  I am to do a phone interview tomorrow for the end of the study and will mail the headache diary back to her.

My niece Shelly is having major back surgery tomorrow.  This will be her second back surgery - she has some sort of hereditary degenerative disk disorder.  Tomorrow they will put in three artificial disks in her back, which should relieve some of her pain, so I am praying for a great surgery, and a quick recovery.  She lives in a third story walkup apartment with her husband and pets, and it worries me how she will get back to her home.  She said she will get an ambulance to take her home if she could not do the steps.  I hope she does.  Her husband will take good care of her I know, but sometimes you just want to see that someone you love is OK.  My sister, her mom, is more nervous than Shelly about the surgery. I am sending calm vibes her way!

Going to sleep soon, my parakeets are softly ringing their bells in their covered cage - their way of saying time to go to bed!  Hope you all have a pleasant tomorrow, if not - blame it on my dialudid!