Update from Camille

[Guest guest]

Hi Camille,

It sounds like you have the right "tools" for a great recovery. I'm pulling for you! As you know, there are no prizes for who revocers the fastest. Slow and steady seems to be the best way, anyhow. It was for me. Actually, it was the only way! I was in a hospital bed in the living room for three months and on a morphine derivitive pain killer for 6 months. That was a really long recovery, but my x-rays, at 10 1/2 years post revision, are excellent. I do have issues, but that's another topic.

Bonnie

[Guest guest]

Hi everyone. I can't even remember when I posted last and haven't

taken the time yet to catch up on everyone's news. I apologize. I've

not even turned on my computer in ages. I've been detoxing....OMG.

I am now Narcotic Free, have been for 5 days. Still feel like crap,

but it's gotta get better. I went through 3 sets of pj's last night,

sweating like crazy and feel severely hung over this am.....which is

so not fair since I haven't had a drink in 16 freakin' years!

It has been my experience that once I went to the Pain Clinic, things

went downhill. It was not a good choice for me. I pray that I

haven't messed up anything in my back. I was definitely pain-free,

aka...drugged outta my mind and apparently breaking a lot of the

rules for a successful fusion (via reports from family and friends).

I'm trying not to dwell on it, but I guess I needed to post it.

Here's my unsolicited advice to new revision patients: We can't

afford to be PAIN FREE/ drugged out of our minds, simply b/c we/I

didn't know what I was doing, the drugs were in control. I was taking

Everything " as perscribed " , which was obviously more than my body

could handle. I was obsessive-compulsive enough to keep a diary of

every pill that I took......which now is hardly ledgible. I did not

need to be in charge of my meds. Again, this is only my experience,

others seem to do well with Pain Clinics.

On July 23, The Powers that BE stepped in and I asked for help.

Since I used to work in the field of Addiction, I knew who to call

and fortunately got in with an awesome " Detox " Physician, who began

to wean me off all the narcotics and muscle relaxers, by switching me

over to the Fentanyl Patch, then to Suboxone. However, the deal with

Suboxone is you have to be experiencing full-blown withdrawal, before

you can take it. Oh what fun that was.

The good news is I'm off all that stuff, and my pain-level is very

manageable. I'm walking every day, despite the constant nausea. The

weather has been great for walking and I have a neighbor who walks w/

me every am.

I have my 6 month follow-up with Dr. Hey on Halloween. I'm very

anxious to see my x-rays, hopefully everything will still be " in

place. "

Gotta Go for now. Thank you group for always being here.

peace, Camille