Masters in Mixology. Chapter 10

Without question not doing very much for several weeks has been soul destroying.  For anyone with an active and busy lifestyle I’d equate it to someone removing hair from your armpits with tweezers. Pulsatingly painful and tedious. So it was exhilarating today when I managed to leave my cell. (Sorry room).

It has been 7 weeks since my accident and today  I was coaxed out into the autumn sunshine for a little stroll. I felt like a baby being dangled by the arms by an overly keen parent as my husband tried to make sure I managed to complete this task without ending up on my backside. I soon found my rythmn with the crutches but the drop in temperature  was like a boa constrictor  crushing the muscle and making it loupe. So  it was  an abrupt about turn and back to the house.

It’s a bit of a miracle I could do this as Monday, when I went for physio,  I was reduced to a blubbering idiot.   The short walk into the department, combined with a lengthy seat in the waiting room,  just put too much pressure on the injury and I was in extraordinary pain by the time I was seen.  In the end we had to abandon the session. So what made the difference today?

Pain relief.  Managing the pain has been troublesome from the beginning.  Initially given co-codamol augmented later by diazepam and then  5mls of morphine it was clear this pain needed a particular strength of relief.  Since then I’ve also been prescribed  paracetamol, oramorph and  ibruprofen. I used to work in a bar but mixology when it comes to drug cocktails is not my forte.  I also agonised over taking so many  tablets so at the first sign of improvement I jumped at the chance to reject them.  Anyone who suffers pain for longer than a day has my sympathy because finding a long term solution isn’t easy.

In my situation there were a couple of factors; medical people were split between  using the least and best available. Mixing or combining is confusing; it needs a masters in chemistry and it’s never quite clear anyway what combination will  bring the best relief until you’ve mastered it. When you are in so much pain its difficult to concentrate  or even remember what works best.

Then there’s the “Oh I’m actually fine today”  and you skip the meds in the vain hope you might be on the mend. Monday was the result of one, two skip a few, 99, 100. The main culprit was in missing the night-time morphine, which had been bringing me instant relief. And much needed sleep when finding comfort through the night was almost  unachievable.  I was so cocky I took nothing and the next day I paid for it.

Medication is not a cosmetic comfort.  Any medic will advise you of this. Take the medication and take it regularly, particularly in this type of injury. At present the only relief is with the morphine, paracetamol and the ibruprofen. It does not numb the pain completely, its still there, but I am much clearer about the need to stick to the plan if I want to get up and go.

That is why today I was as graceful as a gorilla, a little less like Frankenstein looking for Halloween. I passed my mixology exams and finally got to strut my stuff outside………