After Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo took a hit to his back on Monday Night Football, he took a shot of pain killer toradol so that he could return to finish the game. I took toradol the last few days in the hospital so that I could return home.
I never thought I would be like Romo or Brett Favre, except for the fact that Chuck could snare all of my errant throws and make my pass completion statistics look pretty good. Favre became addicted to pain killers. Since Nurse Chad was a young athletic guy, I asked him the chances that I could become addicted to the pain killers I was taking in the hospital.
Chad said not to worry, the pain killers were helping me to deal with the pain of significant surgery. Oxycontin and fentanyl kept the pain in control before toradol, and I was fortunate that there were no side effects of feeling loopy. Or at least not that I recognized.
Recuperation is a balancing act of taking pain medication to be able to get around and get better, while trying to gradually go longer periods of time without the drugs. I was able to move to non-narcotic drugs by the time I was discharged from the hospital. Walking around our yard with my escort Max was a big step in my recovery, not to mention time for some great conversations, and facilitated by feeling up to walking more and more each day, which enabled me to do more, a good recovery formula.
The pancreas is located behind the stomach, near the spleen, so the post-recovery pain is concentrated in the core abdomen area of the body, affecting much of the middle and upper body and movements. I won’t be any time soon on World’s Strongest Athletes Competition, the ESPN sign of the slow season of sports. My goal is to be well enough physically to dribble a basketball between my legs. Never mind that I have never been able to do it, despite patient lessons from our sons. My new body might be more coordinated.
Beyond Six Five 