Dave pointed out to me that I had been remiss in updating you on our travails; sorry about that.
They did a "home evaluation" and She was able - just - to make it up the stairs to the bedroom (house is from 1899, before building codes, so the risers are taller than would be allowed now, and the treads are shallower), and on July 17th, She finally came home.
And halfway the stairs, She just sank down & I (with my post-surgical 10# lifting limit) had to get Her back up again - and 3 more times before the top.
Next night, from the bottom of the stairs (7 steps up and westward, 3 landings, then 7 more up & east) to our bed (about 10' from the top of the stairs) took 1.75 hours, and much pain.
She slept on the couch the next 2 nights, and then we got a hospital bed in the living room.
And.......Friday they came & took the bed away; She struggles, but much work with home PT got Her to where she can make it up every time (I put a folding chair on the upper landing so She can rest on the way).
She is getting around with a walker; 6 weeks of neither standing nor eating left Her just a tad weak, so it'll still be a journey, but I really think She'll be fully & independently mobile in a few more months.
AND: After over a month of being fairly sure that one of the 3 different bad med reactions would keep me from ever being able to have conversation with Her again, She is now fully back (well, She does have very mild Vascular Cognitive Impairment from about 100 TIAs, but back to Her pre-op baseline).
As for me, I am slowly recovering some flexibility - though, as I am now from about the sternum to the hips one solid piece, it ain't never agonna be like it used to was.......
For about a month after the surgery, I only had surgical pain; the pain I had the surgery for was clear gone. Then Her 3rd bad reaction put Her back in the hospital for a week - which means that I was sitting in Northwestern Medicine visitors' chair for a bout a week. I am firmly convinced they purchase said chairs from the Tomás de Torquemada Furniture Company, and the pain started coming back. Never got as bad as it was pre=op, but I was back to having lie down 3-4 times to ease it in the course of getting dressed.
That had me really worried, but it is starting to resolve; still hurts some, but I can get dressed non-stop, and have gone from 4 Percocets & 3 tramadols/day to 4 10mg Norcos & 3 Tramadols to 3 7.5mg Norcos & 3 Tramadols to now 2 5mg Norcos (Am & PM) & 4 Tramadol (1 AM, 1 PM, & 2 midday); by Jan 1, I should be opioid-free. And I'm hoping that by stepping down like this, I will a milder withdrawal than the previous 3 times. Not really difficult, but not exactly a fun week & half either.........
And I can vouch for the fact that the efficacy of opioids is greatly enhanced by cannabis - and thus lower dosages are possible.
Peter
