Update

It's Thursday, April 26th and it's time to update my blog.  I'm almost nine months post-op after my last fusion surgery back in late August 2006.  The back brace is long gone, but the opiate drugs remain as lifesavers.  I still see my pain management doctor regularly, and I still need (much to my personal dismay) some drug help with the pain.  There are some days when I feel great, on top of the world and ready to take on anything.  There are other days, though not so often lately, that I feel like I got hit by a commuter train.

Mornings are still rough for me.  Evenings, if I've overdone activities during the day, done too much lifting or moving around, are also rough.  I've found out I can tell what the weather will be because my fusion site acts up when it gets damp or raw.  Winters have been rough and so are rain and snow storms, it seems.  

I've been halfing my Vocodin, taking only 5 mgs as needed.  Some days I can get away with only 15 mgs.  Most days it's still more like 20-25 mgs.  Percocet is far too strong for what ails me now, pain-wise, and I take it only rarely,  but I sure wish I didn't need anything at all.  I guess I have to continue to be patient.  Still, I'm very glad I had this surgery done.  When I think of how I almost couldn't walk at all back in early 2003 at the worst point of all of this, I'm happy for how far I've come.