Same Song, Second Verse

Surgery Day...again.

Tuesday, October 20th.

The day after my daughter's 20th birthday.

This time the hole in my right ear drum was repaired with a cartilage graft.  This surgery wasn't as extensive as the one in May since a mastoid infection wasn't involved.  The pain is less and the healing should be accomplished more quickly.  

We stayed over the night before since leaving at 5:00 in the morning to check in at 8:30 didn't seem like the smartest thing to do.  Since we took the "scenic route" on the few blocks to the surgical center we were just on time and they were ready for us right away since the surgery before me was done early.  I was whisked through the pre-op and onto the operating table and soon I was awake and coherent and and on our way home.

The worst part of going home is that every little bump jostles my head and that hurt.  It was good to be home and totter into bed and let my pain killer take me into dream land.

Only it didn't work that way.  

I spent most of the night in agony sleeping an hour under the influence of an audio book and the pain killer, and then counting the hours until the next one.  It was way past time for me to consider the ER, when Jim called the on call Dr., and found they don't call in narcotics anymore and suggested the ER when it occurred to me that if I felt this bad, why wasn't I crying tears.  

Aha!  I hadn't been drinking any water!  I hadn't been swallowing.  I don't know what happened to my brain here, but it certainly was derailed.  I got up, drank 40 oz of water, the next pain pill worked fine and I've been sleeping ever since.  In fact, as of this moment, I must be caught up enough that I've been awake a half hour already since the last pill.

I am recording this, just in case something like this happens to someone else.  

Drink Your Water!!

And don't wait so long with the pain either.