What a difference a day makes!
I took the Lortab once yesterday and it made me feel horribly! I won't be taking it again. On the same token, I took my liquid Tylenol yesterday, too (not at the same time) and while it worked, it also didn't. You see...somehow...I lost track of time...and it's now the TOM. And neither the Lortab or the Tylenol were making my cramps go away. And turns out, the cramps were my major issue!
Last night my sweet hubby went back to CVS for, like, the ga-zillionth time. This time he picked up children's zyrtec and a pill breaker and a pill crusher and a dissolvable sleep aid.
The zyrtec cause I'm not supposed to be taking pills. I know, at least I believe, that most of y'all get past the healing stage and tend to move back to pills right? The children's zyrtec is the same dosage but it's expensive and it comes with 12. I actually think 12 will get me through the rest of my personal allergy season just fine and I won't need to take zyrtec again until next spring. I know those pills are so tiny that it shouldn't be an issue but I've literally been feeling that pill, which I broke in half, stick there before it goes through 20 minutes or so later. I'm sure it's swelling and that this won't last, but by the time the swelling is really gone, I won't need zyrtec anyway.
The pill breaker and the pill crusher - self-explanatory.
The dissolvable sleep aid..well..they don't make Tylenol PM in a liquid - at least not that we can find. And who needs it anyway? I have the liquid tylenol. I need that other magic ingredient and it's sold as Unisom which also makes a dissolvable tablet.
So armed with a sleep aid and tylenol I thought I was set.
All day I'd had the start of cramps rumbling away in the lady region and I was baffled. And then I went to the bathroom and...oops...the calendar snuck up on me. Well dangit. The only thing I've ever found that works wonders on my cramps is Midol. And those pills are way too big if I can barely get zyrtec down. Dangit. And then I start to put together, a lot of what I was still feeling was that, not surgery. Crazy. So this was when we decided we needed the pill-breaker-upper.
Armed with the pill-breaker-upper I went crazy on the Midol. Got the two pills to many smaller pieces, much smaller than a half a zyrtec. I took the midol when my time window had expired on the tylenol I'd taken earlier in the evening.
Now let me say, I took that Tylenol and I was aware that I felt better but I still hurt and I still didn't feel well.
When I could, I took the Midol. And it kicked in. Pretty quickly, I might add, since it was already broken down a bit. :)
And dangit if I didn't feel absolutely fine! The cramps were gone, the acheyness was gone, the lethargy was gone, I felt fine!
That lasted until bedtime when it was time for another dose (min 4 hours) and I crushed that one to see the difference. Yeah. Use the breaker-upper if there's a choice. I mixed the crushed Midol into apple sauce and it was doable but it wasn't preferable.
I am sure I would have slept the night through last night, too, except for those gall-derned cramps woke me up at 5. So I got up and took more Midol and once back asleep, slept like a baby!
I slept sooooo well last night!
Now it's time for another dose - I HATE CRAMPS! - but after drinking my breakfast I feel like I can't possibly get another thing in my belly. I'm trying to walk and to get things to settle so that I can drink enough juice to get the pieces in.
Dang cramps. I HATE CRAMPS!
Other than that, I really am feeling a zillion times better. I have not had anything since the last midol I took at 5 this morning and while there is a tenderness around the port area, I feel fine. And the tenderness around the port area is only a problem when I sneeze or cough - so thank God for zyrtec!!!
I'm glad to be done with the Lortab - I think I feel a zillion times better just because of that!
In other news I lost another two pounds yesterday. I now weigh what I weighed the day I married my husband. 20 more pounds and he'll start seeing me lighter than I've ever been since we've been together.
I actually want to respond to yesterday's comments, so here is:
Most importantly, thank you to you all for letting me know you are thinking of me. I really appreciate that!
I am definitely working on the water. sip sip sip at all times. I love those water bottles (that I found through Amy W.) cause otherwise I'd have no idea what I'm getting in right now!
I completely agree with the heating pad. That thing has been my best friend! I drag it from room to room with me!!
Yeah, ambien would have been nice. The unisom helped a lot last night, I think.
Fat Bastard - you might be ok with a weds surgery and back to work the following mon. Today is day 4 (not counting surgery day) and I feel like a whole new person. The only thing I can say, and this is just my experience, is that the quicker you get off the Lortab and onto regular Tylenol, the quicker you will start to feel more normal. The Lortab messes with everything. I took one dose yesterday and I wish I hadn't. It works about as well as good ol' Tylenol. I would make sure you get some liquid tylenol and switch to that when you can. I took the Lortab on Monday and Tuesday and then Wednesday I did Tylenol during the day and Lortab just before bed. Yesterday, (I know this isn't the case with you and sorry for TMI, but it's part of the story) with my cramps kicking in and being afraid to take the midol (before we got the pill-chopper-upper, I thought Lortab would take care of it all. It didn't. It didn't touch the pain and it just made me feel druggy and woozy. Once that wore off, I went back to Tylenol and that made a world of difference. So...if you have to do five days like that, that's the best I can say - get off the Lortab as quickly as you feel comfortable doing. The incisions don't hurt a bit, it's just tenderness in the port area. And so long as I don't twist suddenly or cough or sneeze, I am generally not even aware of it.
Other thing I can say is the eating. Make sure you are getting protein and you will feel better faster. Inclination is to not eat cause you just don't feel like it. But when I have forced myself to get my protein, I've felt better for the day. That and walking. Get up and move. But don't do too much. There is a fine line between getting enough of a walk and too much of a walk. Just because you can doesn't mean you should.
I am glad I have 7 days, though. If you can, I would try for that.
