Days 3 and 4

So, this was around the end of day 2. Shiny happy people.


This was early yesterday. I was back on the codeine at this point, had been since Saturday afternoon. Was also feeling really groggy. Like, could use the mouse but that was most of my movement capability. Then, yesterday evening I started to itch. At around 9:30PM, my head started to hurt. That weirded me out. Like, I'm taking pain meds ... how can my head hurt? So I went to bed. Woke up at 3AM, head hurting more now, face starting to. Also, I am still really groggy and now am nauseous. I check out the patient monograph with my oxycodone. Itching, nausea, extreme fatigue, grogginess ... allergy? Overdose? Something was wrong. Rob was up getting me things to make me feel better; earl grey tea, white bread, peppermint oil, water. I throw up dinner, which was gravy bread and hummus. Then, when rinsing my mouth, I find that I'm bleeding again. Argh. Now, I have to decide; take Advil for the pain? Wait until I'm not nauseous anymore? I call Dad because it's 4:30AM here at this point, which makes it about 9AM in Newfoundland. The phone bill will be outrageous, I'm sure. We don't have Canada on our calling plan. But, by now, we were thinking emergency room so an expensive phone call (15 minutes in the end) would still be cheaper. Dad says it was probably the hummus that I reacted to but said to take Advil instead. Dad's a pharmacist, by the way. I say goodnight to the folks and go to sleep in the living room.


And here's me today. I'm actually feeling a lot better than I did the last couple of days. And today is "hot beverage" day so Rob got me a cinnamon latte. I was not doing dairy because of the pain meds but Dad said that wasn't necessary. So, latte! Am drinking it now.

Mom, who was the first person that I talked to when I called home this morning, pointed out that Percocet is usually overkill and she doesn't know why anyone prescribes it. She says that Advil does the trick without the side effects; why go the "big guns" route? She's had lots of cancer customers (in the pharmacy) being miserable, nauseous, out-of-it and groggy ... who feel better when they lay off the Percocet. I have to say, this most recent experience of mine has changed the way I was ranking pain killers. I thought of Percocet as being tougher. At least in my case, it proved to just be more problematic. And I'm feeling better as a whole today.