Day Five

Moving forward I will only post times of the day if I feel they contribute to the story. Otherwise, I will just explain what I'm going through with as much detail as possible.

The fifth day is a mixed bag of progress and setbacks.

9:30AM - I awake, but feel unusually tired(even though I slept through the night without much trouble). It takes me a LOT of effort to get up off the couch; even with my wife's help.

It takes me an unusual amount of time to make it to the bathroom, considering how much easier it'd become. However, once on the toilet I am able to defecate, for the first time since the surgery, without the aid of a glycerin suppository.  This is a step forward, for sure.

The first setback that I notice is a lump on my left arm, where the IV was inserted. Not necessarily on the spot itself, but a bit further up the arm from the original point of entry for the needle. There is no color to the lump, but it hurts a LOT!

By night time, the pain in my left arm is unbearable; and this after applying multiple ice bags.

BTW, I refrained from taking any Oxycodone/Acetaminophen 5-325mg tables throughout the day and pay the price in the form of PAIN! I finally take two before going to bed. Otherwise, I wouldn't get any sleep.

By 10PM I find myself going into a mix of panic, anxiety attack and shock! I am shivering uncontrollably and feel pain everywhere! I am completely EXHAUSTED!!!

I MUST get off the couch and to the bathroom(not because I need to go, but because I need to test myself to see if I have any energy left). Well, that was a HUGE mistake and I find myself trapped on the toilet seat without any energy whatsoever. I finally got off the toilet seat, but it was misery.

I couldn't sleep on the couch another night. My lower back pain was surpassing the pain of the surgery. So, I asked my son and wife to take me to bedroom in the lower area.

I won't go into details, because they are too lengthy, but suffice to say that it took me a long time to get comfortable in the bed, but once I did, I slept like a baby until 9:30AM! This was, by far, the  best sleep I've gotten since the surgery.