Day: October 10, 2018

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Dr. Bow Says, “Later”

Bow Tie o’ the Day added some zip to my appointment with my pain doctor, Dr. Bow, this afternoon. She was pleased with Bow Tie, but not so pleased with my current pain situation. Oh, apparently I’m healing up from surgery just dandily. But there are enough tweaks and jabs going on in the vicinity of my belly right now that we decided it’s probably best to not change anything pain medication-wise, until my belly brouhaha calms down. In a few months, I should have a much more accurate gauge of my intricate pain situation.

How bloody long does this recovery take? I’m losing my patience with not being able to do every last thing I want to do. I want my way. And I want it now. And my way is to go about my regular activities without worrying about pulling some innard or another. And I want to ditch my pain meds– or at least knock ’em down a notch– if I so desire. And I do.

What truly scares me is the fact that my Whipple procedure might not ease any of my pancre-ass pain. My surgeon told me before we scheduled the surgery that even a successful operation still might not solve the pancreatic pain issues. He said there was no guarantee the operation would diminish one iota of ouch.

Apparently, pancreatic stones are not like gall stones or kidney stones. With gall stones and kidney stones, if you get rid of the stones, the pain goes with them. Not necessarily so, with pancreas stones. But after almost twenty years of trying to deal with my panky, my pain had worsened to the point that I couldn’t stand it anymore. I decided it was worth taking the risk– hoping it will eventually relieve some of the agony.

Also, I could no longer stand Suzanne constantly pestering me to take the chance and go under the knife. Her nagging me to give in and have surgery was another kind of pain. A pain in the butt, to be precise. Don’t you just hate it when somebody wants what’s best for you? It’s such a pain to be loved.

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Dr. Bow Does Not Wear Bow Ties

Orange Bow Tie o’ the Day and black Shirt o’ the Day join up with pink-lettered Hat o’ the Day, for a confluence of the upcoming Halloween holiday AND Breast Cancer Awareness month.

It’s perfectly clash-ceptable fashion to throw together holidays and causes in one outfit. Call attention to as many topics in one fashion statement as you wish. Different onlookers will concentrate on whichever theme strikes them. You’ll grow your audience simply by multiplying your garb’s themes. I don’t really recommend wearing more than three or four topics in one outfit, because you risk confusing onlookers and making them dizzy. As always, though, clash fashion allows you to do whatever the heck you want. You dress yourself. Make it interesting to yourself.

I have a doc appointment this afternoon in SLC with my pain doc, Dr. Bow. (That’s not her real name, but her name has a syllable pronounced BOW in it, so that’s how I will refer to her in posts.) For Dr. Bow, I like to be extra choosy about the bow tie I wear when I see her. She expects me to show up in a bow tie that will make her “oooh” and “ahhh” at each appointment– in honor of her name. I would never dishonor her by wearing a necktie to an appointment.

Dr. Bow has been my pain doc for six years, but I haven’t had an appointment with her since the day before my surgery. I had chronic pancreatitis for 18 years before I was able to have the surgery. That meant I had chronic gut pain for that same 18 years. And that meant taking pain meds, which I hate. But they were necessary for me if I wanted to have a life with any kind of movement in it.

Getting the correct pain medication and an adequate dosage of it is tricky. To quell the pain completely would have required that I take a high enough dosage to basically put me in a coma. Being comatose is not living. So Dr. Bow’s task has been to find a med and dosage that handled enough of the pain so that I could make it through a day able to do most normal things, but without making me lethargic and loopy. And comatose. Dr. Bow helped me get the right med, in the right dosage, so I’ve been able to live a productive, fulfilling, useful life.

I tell you about all of this to give you some context about how important today’s appointment is to me. I’m hoping Dr. Bow will agree to let me cut down the current dosage of my pain med. I think I am feeling less pancreatic pain since my surgery. It is difficult for me to accurately assess my pain, however, because I still have all kinds of intermittent tugs, pulls, stabs, jabs, and pains going on in my healing innards. Dr. Bow will help me figure out some of that.

Wish me luck. Cross your fingers that I can nix some of my med. I’m crossing what’s left of my pancreas.

#iwantoffmymeds  #ithinkthesurgeryhelped  #drbowwillseemyprettyscar