“Come on, Nellie. Come on, girl. You have to go to your kennel now,” coaxed Mike at 5:30 a.m. Thursday.
“You must be confused, Mike,” said the look on Nellie’s face. “I sleep on my pillow in the mornings.”
“Not today, girl. You have to go out.” We were on our way to the hospital for Mike’s left shoulder surgery. Dr. Flock said the procedure went well. He removed “loose bodies” from the shoulder and scraped calcium deposits from the end of the clavicle. There were no rotator cuff tears, but he has arthritis. We were home about 1:30 p.m. The rest of the day was trying with the effects of the anesthetic wearing off. But this morning he is up, dressed, moving around with various light activities. Probably like most shoulder surgery patients, he wears a sling that affixes to a pad against his body to immobilize his arm.
Mike refuses to take the prescribed pain medication, which he hates due to side effects, and insists he is getting along well. But doctor and nurse both pressed him to take the pain meds and take them before he needed them. So, we now have yet another bottle of unused narcotic pain meds on the shelf, even though we showed our stash, stated our concerns about side effects, and asked for other options. “Oh but you will be in pain and it will be better if you stave it off,” they say. People are different, I guess. Sometimes I think when the patient has been coping with pain for quite some time anyway, the pain of surgery is not a big deal. Mike manages quite nicely with ice packs and distracting activities. And he seems to be able to get some sleep.
Anyway, today Mike is up, dressed, and moving back and forth between the office and the shed. I feel confident things will continue to go well.
I don’t have pictures of Nellie greeting Mike when he came home from the hospital. I was ready with the camera, but we had to keep her from jumping on him. She quickly saw the dilemma and backed off. Then with deliberate action she pressed her snout to his arm and sniffed. Maybe she wondered if he had a new arm.
[Above -- basket-o-gold blooms in Clarkston.]
“You must be confused, Mike,” said the look on Nellie’s face. “I sleep on my pillow in the mornings.”
“Not today, girl. You have to go out.” We were on our way to the hospital for Mike’s left shoulder surgery. Dr. Flock said the procedure went well. He removed “loose bodies” from the shoulder and scraped calcium deposits from the end of the clavicle. There were no rotator cuff tears, but he has arthritis. We were home about 1:30 p.m. The rest of the day was trying with the effects of the anesthetic wearing off. But this morning he is up, dressed, moving around with various light activities. Probably like most shoulder surgery patients, he wears a sling that affixes to a pad against his body to immobilize his arm.
Mike refuses to take the prescribed pain medication, which he hates due to side effects, and insists he is getting along well. But doctor and nurse both pressed him to take the pain meds and take them before he needed them. So, we now have yet another bottle of unused narcotic pain meds on the shelf, even though we showed our stash, stated our concerns about side effects, and asked for other options. “Oh but you will be in pain and it will be better if you stave it off,” they say. People are different, I guess. Sometimes I think when the patient has been coping with pain for quite some time anyway, the pain of surgery is not a big deal. Mike manages quite nicely with ice packs and distracting activities. And he seems to be able to get some sleep.
Anyway, today Mike is up, dressed, and moving back and forth between the office and the shed. I feel confident things will continue to go well.
I don’t have pictures of Nellie greeting Mike when he came home from the hospital. I was ready with the camera, but we had to keep her from jumping on him. She quickly saw the dilemma and backed off. Then with deliberate action she pressed her snout to his arm and sniffed. Maybe she wondered if he had a new arm.
[Above -- basket-o-gold blooms in Clarkston.]
1 comment:
The dog knew he was hurt. Supposedly pain meds arn't habit forming when used to treat pain, I wouldn't know, I've never been in that much pain, but they're fun to take none the less.
Habit forming though, very bad.
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