Surgery Went Well

This morning Tank said, "I love everyone in the entire world.  Be-cept the mailman."  Apparently Tank hates mail.  Who knew?

Now on to surgery news.

The doc said he was "tickled" by how well it went.  I thought that was cute.

He put in the plate and screws, and didn't touch the broken tip of the ulna.  He did the carpal tunnel release and said there was blood in the tunnel, and that's what was creating the problem.  The carpal tunnel issues were all injury-related, FYI (I had someone ask.  No, I had no carpal tunnel issues pre-break).  He also said that soft tissue was caught in-between the 2 pieces of bone, and that was partly why they couldn't set it better in the E.R.  They had to clean the soft tissue out during surgery.

Here are the x-rays showing the plate and screws:

Pretty neat, right?  I think it looks like a little garden rake.  (On the second x-ray you can see the broken tip of the ulna pretty well.  It's the bottom part of the bottom bone, right on the edge.)

Not neat:  The pain that hit my arm after the block wore off that night.  Here's a story.

I told the doc I wasn't fond of Percocet because it makes me loopy, and he gave me a scrip for Vicoden.  Excellent.  I started taking the Vicoden as my fingers started regaining feeling, as I was instructed, and found out that while Vicoden doesn't make me loopy, it doesn't touch the pain either.  And the pain was intense.  Much worse than just the break had been.  Much, MUCH worse.

All night I took 2 Perc pills (I usually only take 1) and was still in intense pain for about an hour out of every 4 hours.  Not good.

At the start of the next day I asked Rob to call the doc and get some more Perc.  I had as much Vicoden as I could want, but I was afraid to take it.  Rob told me we had "plenty" of Perc (we didn't), but called the office anyway.  They suggested I start taking Vicoden and Advil, 2 hours apart.

Longest 4 hours of my life.  I was in so much pain that committing suicide sounded reasonable.  I told Rob he HAD to call the doc back.  This wasn't going to cut it.  He called around 3:00 p.m. and they said that the doc would probably write a scrip, but he wasn't in until 8 a.m.  Rob told me that and I started sobbing.  I wasn't going to make it until then.  I mean, I had enough, just barely, if I only took 1 pill every 4 hours, but I was needing 2.

So I asked for a Priesthood blessing.  Rob said, "I was just going to suggest that."  I was blessed to be able to manage the pain.  Not that the pain would go away completely, but that it would be lessened.  Within half an hour of the blessing, the sharp pain was gone.  I was able to manage all night with just 1 Perc every 4 hours, with almost no pain at the transition.  And I got the Perc scrip filled the next morning (that would be this morning) and didn't miss a single dose.

I was so grateful to my Heavenly Father that I didn't have adequate words to thank Him.  I am glad that He loves us enough that He is ready to help when we need it.  Sometimes I think it can be hard to tell if He's there or if He cares.  But other times there are tiny miracles, and I am overwhelmed with the love He has for me and for all of us.  I've said it before and I'll say it again:  God's a good guy.