It's 2 days since I stopped pain killers. I'm definitely a wimp so Mr o'Blimey was obviously as particular and careful as the staff said he was and has minimsed damage. I was supposed to have an epidural abdominal block for post op pain. When I came round in recovery it wasn't numbing the right bits. I had sensation on my abdomen but lost muscle control above the diaphram and in my legs and arms. Not helpful when you try to breathe or move! After a couple of attempts at with/without the epidural it was obviously not right so they took it out. Self inflating lungs - hurrah! After that total blank for about 4 hours. Whatever care I was getting it must have worked as I by-passed High Dependency and woke up in the evening on the ward. I got a PCA infusion pump with my personal morphine supply. 'It won't work more often than every 5 minutes' says the nurse. In my stupour I took that to mean I should press it at least that often. Didn't take long to twig that I could try leaving it as long as possible and was chuffed to be at 2 hourly after a short time. 'Did I use too much' I asked when the nurses took it off me. Nope, only the equivalent of us giving you one injection.
I did prefer it to oral codeine though. This left me spaced out, "sleeping", definitely with mouth open, drooling and with a squint. Goodness knows what adding a sleeping pill would have done to me.
I got in a right tangle with the lines. A nasal canula with oxygen battled with the jugular IV. Tubes from elbow, wrist and back of hands. Drainage tubes etc. PCA buzzer looped over my wrist (my choice, if I dropped that no-one would notice for ages) and nurse buzzer tucked under pillow. Plastic 'cat's cradle'.
