Last night was pretty tough. I absolutely could not get to sleep. The outer part of my arm felt like it had a vein of fire running through it. The physical therapist said it was probably an irritated nerve and that mucking with it as we did yesterday set it off with a vengeance.
My arm was propped as always but nothing could put out the fire. After an hour, I finally relented and took a pain pill. That helped me enough to go to sleep. It was better this morning when I woke up. There hasn't been any pain today like there was last night.
It was a frustrating thing. I went from feeling like I was ahead in the game to being reminded that I am still only a few days out from surgery. I viewed it as a setback for sure. Seeing my hand so swollen up this morning hasn't helped either. We must have really hit a nerve yesterday. I'll let that pun sink in for a second.
I have been doing my hand exercises religiously. They are called the hand six pack. They include things like making a fist, bending at the knuckles, etc. It feels great just to be able to move my hand a little bit. It makes last night's setback seem less of a setback and more of a sign to just calm down a bit.
I returned to work today too. It's oddly tiring. You would think that this doesn't take much fuel, but it feels like I am starting with the tank half empty. I have no idea why. My idea is that getting back to work quicker will help me build my stamina back up quicker. That means a faster recovery. I am being driven by that full recovery as quickly as possible. It's pretty motivating.
Katy washed my hand yesterday and got all of the betadine scrub off of it. That's the sanitizer that they use in surgery and turns your skin yellow. So, thanks to her, my arm won't be mistaken for curry. Feels good.
As promised, here are a few wayward pictures.
This is my curry arm from yesterday.
My rad nurses Carol and Claudia
And finally the assortment of pills that I refuse to take. They goes as follows: Long acting (take daily), Fast acting (when needed), Faster acting (when fast isn't fast enough), Anti Nausea (if the first 3 make you sick), and Stool softening (because the first 3 make you constipated). See why Aleve is easier?
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