Another Day, Another Dollar!

This morning was the first time I've been able to sit up on my own in over four weeks. Maybe since I had the flu. It felt good to be able to help myself up. It's a way of starting the day out right, on a "positive" note. Journaling/Blogging is good too. It helps me to get all negative thoughts out in the open. When I "hide" my feelings, it's easy to let depression take over my days. I definitely don't want that.

It's amazing to be on so many various medications and still not have relief from pain, and other symptoms. August will be a year of being on the same medications, (which are actually ones that provide the most relief, based on trial and error), and at the one year mark, we will have a conference with the magnificent Dr. V, to determine if we should explore other options (ie. changing meds again, pain pump, injections, etc.).

The main goal for medical treatment, is to try and prevent me from starting each day with pain already at level 10. I'm not sure what meds we could change that I haven't already failed at, and I'm already taking the ones that appear to work the best. Unfortunate for me, that the current meds don't provide maximum relief from pain. Honestly, I don't even know if there is such a thing.

For today, I started out better than most, regardless of the pain level. At least my meds have kicked in and I am able to tolerate the current level of 6. I guess at this point, it's not a matter of whether I can tolerate the pain or not, I'm just tired of being in pain everyday, all day for two years. Enough, already!!

At least the pain, before the last two years, when this all started (untreated, therefore undiagnosed) was manageable, and more than tolerable, with Tramadol.

My goal each day is to keep the pain level down as low as it can be, with the current medical treatment. Unfortunately, I have yet to experience pain below a level of 5. Most days, there's several times throughout the day, where the pain spikes up to an 8 or 9. I try to ride it out with icepacks and complete bedrest.

Distraction is another (non-medicinal) method that takes my mind away from everything that's happening. Days when I'm able to get out of the house, I don't think about the pain at all. When I'm on ASAP or blogging. Weekends when my daughter comes home. When my friend comes over. When I'm on the phone, which isn't often with the hoarseness. However, I do make sure I take my meds on time, but it's just another way to "escape" from it all.

I hope everyone has a pleasant day!