I Wanna Be Sedated

Post-op update time. First, the bad news: I did not get the continuous no-no-nerve juice machine I’d campaigned so hard for. Boooo. Instead they sent me home with a long-acting nerve block shot, a one-and-done deal instead of the pump.

It’s been about 24 hours since I came out of surgery, and the pain is starting to creep in, especially on the inner ankle where the new tendon now lives. So this is the part where we all say a big, enthusiastic YES to more drugs. That means the 12-hour extended-release OxyContin plus ibuprofen, and I get to run that stack for a full week (YAY). Together they seem to be flicking the nerve lights back on one switch at a time instead of blowing the whole panel at once, which is exactly the gentler ramp I was hoping for.

The other half of the plan is gravity. I’ve got the foot way, way up in the air, and here is the pro-tip I will keep repeating until you’re sick of it: keep the damn thing above your head. Then wrap it in ice. I did splurge on a continuous icing machine that runs 30-minute cycles; once it stops, I just restart it. It’s so much easier than wrestling with bags of melting ice, and best of all there’s no wetness to ruin the surgical dressing. Another win.

On the food front, I’m trying to eat more but honestly not into it. What I am into is being THIRSTY all the time, and I am plowing through the fridge cigarettes, aka Diet Cokes, at an alarming clip. What can I say?! The heart wants what the heart wants. And right now the heart wants to go for a run, which I’ve had to gently explain is not currently on the menu.

So instead, we binge watch TV. On rotation:

• The Bear, season 5
• Notes from the Back Row
• the finale of America’s Sweethearts, season 3

The upside to all of this: today is one more day closer to getting back out there. Onwards and upwards, as they say.