Happy Pills

Post surgery, a time for recovery. The Surgeon came to my room the day after the surgery to look things over & see how I was doing. He seemed pleased with my progress and said I could go home after my back brace came or I could stay another night if I wanted too. Why would I want to stay – no sleep, nurses every ½ hour taking stats, lights on all night, …the happy pills were always being brought in. Happy pills in my case turned out to be percocet’s. Upon going home, Laura went to fill my prescription. The surgeon, as it turned out, prescribed a bottle of 200 percocet tablets – up to 10 per day. There’s a nice way to start an addiction.
For the last 3 days, I have needed to take a total of 10 tablets (no addicts here). I believe I am handling the recovery pretty well right now. I was able to walk about 7-8 block circle today after walking a few blocks yesterday. I am trying to keep a grip on my diet till I can start back up at the gym. Matthew asked me last week to tell if & when I am tempted to “cheat” on the diet. I was tempted on Monday at Walgreen’s in the candy isle, but walked through it to just pick up my vitamins I needed. It really was a challenge for me, tried to justify only one before the Surgery. Besides, I had reached my next benchmark of 280 lbs. (279 on Monday, 280 was my goal before surgery). I found a compromise in a healthy 100 calorie bar, I can live with that.
Laura counted 17 staples in about 8” on my back. These are painful to put pressure on, so I have trouble sleeping still. Next Thursday, Feb 11th they come out @ 2:20 PM. Until then, Laura gets to be my nurse & change the dressing daily. I really couldn’t get through this without her. My dad & Rita came over last night; I struggled to stay focused since I had just taken a happy pill. I have a lot of paperwork and school work to do as well as taxes, but I need a couple more days to clear my head & become less dependent upon the little round feel-goods. I believe it will happen soon enough.
Well, I’ve reached my limit for sitting for now, so I'm off to take another happy pill, more later ...