Mr. Sandman
Check-in time: we’re right about at the 72-hour mark, and honestly? What a chill three days it’s been. Mostly. For starters, the extended-release OxyContin has done a genuinely great job of moderating the pain. I’m no chemist, but I swear it’s a better drug than the standard oxycodone. Science says they’re the exact same molecule; my brain swears otherwise. I’m choosing to side with my brain.
So here’s what I’m doing to get through this, and it’s different than the last time:
- Continuous ice machine. I cannot cannot cannot stress this enough. The device does all the work, and keeping the foot iced around the clock is what holds the swelling down. Swelling = pain. Pain = bad.
- Elevation. My foot slid down off the pillows last night while I slept, and I woke up at 2am to absolutely excruciating heel pain, right where he cut my heel bone in half. Leg not elevated = pain. Pain = bad.
- Strict drug schedule. Even when the leg feels fine, it can go from fine to the seventh circle of fiery-rage pain in a heartbeat, the kind that makes you feel like you’re about to black out. No drugs = pain. Pain = bad.
All of this eventually subsides, and I’ll get to step down to fewer drugs, as-needed only. But the first 96 hours or so are genuinely tough, often full of rebound pain. So since I have all the drugs, I’m taking all the drugs. Right now that includes the ibuprofen-plus-Tylenol combo, purely because the doctor gave me the green light. Next week, though, that sweet Advil goes away for a while so the bone can do its thing.
The other big one: sleep. If I had to name a single non-negotiable, it’d be this, because sleep is when the body actually repairs itself. I’m getting around seven hours a night plus a solid nap every afternoon. And really, when else in life can you justify a nap in the middle of a weekday?! I haven’t left the basement, so the couch is my bed, which makes leaning over and drifting off almost too easy.
I’ll get into nutrition and supplements more another time. For now: eyes on the prize. Three days post-op, and we can only go up from here.
- 72 hours in and the extended-release OxyContin is keeping the pain genuinely manageable
- A dialed-in protocol this time: continuous ice, foot up, drugs on a strict clock
- Sleeping ~7 hours a night plus a guilt-free weekday nap, right when the body does its repairs
Ibuprofen + Tylenol: still stacking both while the doctor allows it; the Advil goes away next week to let the bone heal.
Everything on a strict clock through the ~96-hour rebound window, not as-needed yet.