Re: Some thoughts + travel

June 29, 2004

Hi Joyce

It sure is great to be off all those pills isnt it. Pre - op my handbag seemed

to be full of Vioxx, panadol, panadeine Nurofen - for when the pain got to be

too bad. Now I carry a few panadol only and rarely need them. Even the little

things like now being able to sit in the car and not have to keep shifting

because everything hurts, or shopping with no pain!!! I love that. My aim is to

be fit and strong enough to travel around VietNam in January for 2 - 3 weeks -

I wont attempt the treks this time but I sure wont be sitting on a tourist coach

each day. Lots of walking, so I definitely need a much higher level of fitness!

And I set off the airport beepers in Melbourne too so I guess a card / letter

re BHR with a report in English and VietNamese would be useful! Don't want a

personal search sprung on me.

Diving in the South of France sounds idyllic! Definitely something to look

forward to Will. Not long before you will be out driving your car and feeling

so great!

Time for my physio now

Kay

L BHR 23 /4/04 McMahon Melb Australia

Joyce Graves sungold518@...> wrote:

As I read the posts from folks who are deliberating whether or not to go

ahead with the resurf surgery, I am moved to tell everyone how very glad I

am to of OFF of all of those pain controllers. My main pain med was

ibuprofen and I was, ultimately, taking 800 mgs, twice per day. I did that

for several years. It worked. I was constantly buying the stuff.

Constantly running out of the stuff. I ended up on Vicadin, but for years

it was ibuprofen. Do you all know how risky that is? I tended to think it

was " just aspirin (only different) " even though my family doc had fits when

she found out how much I was taking. Renal failure? Liver damage? AND I

was also taking Prilosec every day. Guess what? I hardly ever take a pain

pill these days and I don't have to take Prilosec. I'm sure my poor

filtering organs must be shuddering with relief that I've stopped

assaulting them and overworking them. And it just plain feels good to be

off of all of those pills. So, yeah -- a lot of us can literally hobble on

with the help of these meds, but I'm very glad not to be doing that

anymore. Joyce (Dr Gross, LHR, 2/2/04)

sungold518@...

June 29, 2004

Kay, I laughed out loud when I read what you wrote. You better believe

that the average person out there has no idea how delightful it is to

suddenly realize that you are NOT constantly shifting around in the chair!

I love being happily startled by the absence of pain... Joyce (Dr Gross,

LHR, 2/2/04)

sungold518@...

Re: Some thoughts + travel

Hi Joyce

It sure is great to be off all those pills isnt it. Pre - op my handbag

seemed to be full of Vioxx, panadol, panadeine Nurofen - for when the pain

got to be too bad. Now I carry a few panadol only and rarely need them.

Even the little things like now being able to sit in the car and not have

to keep shifting because everything hurts, or shopping with no pain!!! I

love that. My aim is to be fit and strong enough to travel around VietNam

in January for 2 - 3 weeks - I wont attempt the treks this time but I sure

wont be sitting on a tourist coach each day. Lots of walking, so I

definitely need a much higher level of fitness! And I set off the airport

beepers in Melbourne too so I guess a card / letter re BHR with a report

in English and VietNamese would be useful! Don't want a personal search

sprung on me.

Diving in the South of France sounds idyllic! Definitely something to look

forward to Will. Not long before you will be out driving your car and

feeling so great!