INSOMNIACS place to talk in the wee hours
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good morning everyone!!
I was awake a fair bit during the night, but I didn't look here cos I was trying to be good and get some sleep!! I'm going to a competition 250kms away with my DS today, so I need to have a bit of energy. In the process of making food to take with us, so I'll be back later. I know that a day sitting on the benches will mean there's no way I'll sleep tonight, but that's what we do for our kids, isn't it!
Hope you all have a good day,
Nicky
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Here it is SAS.
A very tired nurse walks into a bank, totally exhausted after a 16-hour shift. Preparing to write a check, she pulls a rectal thermometer out of her purse and tries to write with it. When she realizes her mistake, she looks at the flabbergasted teller, and without missing a beat, she says: 'Well, that's great...that's just great.........some asshole's got my pen!
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lol
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Hi beautiful Owlets!!! Hope I spelled okay?? Checking in still a little sore from surgery. Back to work but on light duty just so I don't loose health insurance. The expanders feel so weird and just crazy the tightness with each fill... Right breast looks like a football scar bc of latissimus flap.... Chevy pretty funny thought I could write across it Go Broncos!!! Haha I really might do that
back incision is a little sore looks good just feels weird not having a portion of the muscle where it once was.... Having hard time sleeping super sore I am a side sleeper and no can do just too painful.... One day right??? Any ladies out from breast reconstruction that can sleep on their side/ tummy???Sass how are you... I will have to call and catch up once I catch my breathe it has been super busy for Tim and I this month... House is still not ready hopefully February??? We will see...
Phgraham hi how are you loved seeing your posts missed u....
Wren super cool pic the little baby owls are so cute. Crazy looking at all those eyes.
Healing hugs
Sweet Pea
Go Brincos
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Happy Sunday morning,
Chabba, cute joke...
Wren, great photo...
Nicky, I hope your road trip & sitting in bleachers/benches was not too stressful. I am sure watching your son compete made it all worthwhile. What sport ?
SweetPea, good to hear from you, I hope the healing continues.
Teka...
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I slept from 7 PM until 6:30 AM. I was exhausted so fell asleep early.
Thanks Shiela and Wren pretty little Owlets, CHabba, still laughing,
Ginger
GO SEAHAWKS
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Went to my daughters cheer competition today. Sat on the bleachers for four hours. They took 2nd out of 7 teams, so it was worth it. Dang they tire me out, but here I am wide awake, I was hoping to sleep for once! I guess I have to wait for Tuesdays surgery anesthesia to have some sleep. Ugh!
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NJ in your pocket for Tues. Your right about sleep with anesthesia . I LOVE anesthesia. It's the most delicious relaxing sleep. I always tell them I have pain control and nausea issues. Well, I lie sometimes LOL. What it does, is make sure they cover me with meds for prevention of each. BTW I do have pain control issues. Under anesthesia IF the doc/crna uses enough narcotics during surgery, pain is less post op b/c the brain hasn't gotten into a tissy about being assaulted. Ask if they can use MARCAINE or BUPIVICAINE (forget which one is longer acting)local injection along the incision. It's injected at the end of sx. Can make many hours of difference in pain post op.
Wren those baby Owls OMG they are so, cute. I'm so glad we are owls. I never quite appreciated them before.
SweetPea, Helloooot, sorry about all the postop pain/positioning issues. Take your pain meds on a scheduled versus prn Consider asking for Valium. The muscles are so messed up b/c of the pain. A combo of say Oxy 5 mg and Valium 10mg will be a better mix then say 10 mg of Oxy. I avoid NSAIDS and Tylenol like the plague b/c they make my BP elevate and liver worries(twins on a liver transplant list)
Is your sister with you? How's Austin? Tim? Your plate is so full. Working lite duty........Sucks. It never ceases to amaze how non-compassionate nursing is regarding the providers responsible for the care and well being of others.
Not often in your life, you get to build a house, wish you could enjoy it more
-----------Are you surviving the in-laws?PHYLINTHEKITCHENBAKINGCOOKIESCANWEHAVESOME ?
Where's Chevy's morning news? Is she stuck in the chicken coop?
Cami, That's PTSD in a nutshell--up and down and when we're down it just smacks us around .
Chabba--Hooting
againNicky, Ginger, Enerva, Teka, GolfGirl, Gumby, maddy, soteria, blessings--------Hoot hoot
Where's Littlegoats? Shellshine hasn't come back?
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Don't you just hate it when you write a post and forget to hit submit--------then it's gone.......poop.
I de-cluttered the MBR closet over two days. It's 9 1/4 feet by 11 feet. B/C it's so big, I've gotten away without reorganizing it for far too many years. But "gotter her done"(cable guy). Now I just have to get all the stuff off the bed and the donating bags out of the house.
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SHELL where are u.???
Sweet Pea just rest in a recliner if u have to.maybe that will help.
Wren those are adorable.
Phylolookingatmaps--U are hardly here anymore (sob) I imagine u are getting ready for a job and see blueprints on a big table, with u'r :friends" around and listening to instructions.
Hi Sas and all I can't member everyones' name but I do mean my hello.
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Njmom,
Hope you have a peaceful, relaxing day ( if that is at all possible ) before the big show tomorrow.
Sas, cleaning bedroom closets, good idea. Maybe that will motivate me, I've got the time, need the shove.
Owlettes, I hope all has a good week, as pain free as possible...
Freezing fog here, looks spooky and dream-like.....love it!
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Sas - Amen to taking pain meds around the clock instead of "as needed"....
I never got my pain under control in the hospital after BMX/recon... I had a PCA filled with morphine which I tried to avoid like the plague. (Had a bad experience after a different surgery years ago.) I'd asked for something other than morphine, but they told me the alternative (Dilaudid?) would have even worse SEs.
So I went home in pain, and cried every day for a month... until some lovely ladies here told me my meds were there for a reason, and to TAKE THEM! So we set up a schedule.. Norco and Valium around the clock... DH even set the alarm clock to give me my 4 a.m. dose... even though I'd be wide awake waiting for it...
Eventually, that worked. You can't catch up to pain... you have to stay on top of it!
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A long time ago when I was feeling overwhelmed with a bunch of young children a woman told me to organize my sock drawer. That she always organized her sock drawer when everything felt out of control.. I still do this when things are really trying, it gives me some small sense of control.
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Sassy - send your closet here PRONTO. I have a 70s closet - you know his/hers side with bifold doors. Now I also have clothes stashed in DD's room, storage closet and in "guest" room (last guest in it was 2005 I think). I would love to have a walk in closet - drool over those on House Hunters. DH has some clothes certainly not a clotheshorse but more for his sporting interests - that he seems to have abandoned.
Insomnia is the pits. Don't know why I'm having the 2 am awakes. Not enough to get up but not enough to sleep deep. Pee, drink of water, rearrange pillows. Have turned elec. blanket down, I think I was getting too warm. I think prob. sinus - bad pollen counts and snoring more. Can't blame DH - he sleeps in another room since forever says I snore too much - so does he. Then about 5:30 I fall back to sleep great. But try to get up at 7:30 to help DH with my goats. I try not to nap and not more than 20-30 minutes, never go back to bed. Can fall asleep sitting straight up on couch just about anytime. I do have a mammogram Wed. but just routine 2 year and not expecting anything (keeping a sharp lookout for that bus though)
Blessings - do know there is an itch component to Dilaudid allergybut do know I've had plenty of pts on it and IV too. Morphine makes my DH spacy (had it for kidney stones) - did same thing to his DM. Hydrocodone seems not to affect him pain wise at all. He's had so little done that I don't even remember if any pain meds have worked. Dentist always had to numb him up to his eyeballs.
Ginger - Love the organize sock drawer. I fold underwear - we (just the 2 of us) usually just use it out of the basket. Good feeling matching up all those white socks. The thing I don't like doing is folding towels - Sassy I bet you have a proper linen closet too.
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Oh! So it's okay when YOU miss a morning little miss Sassy, but not me? Hah! Caught you on THAT one! I've been busy.... doing mostly nothing!
I posted to miss Cam on the Older women thread, because that's what we mostly are....
Oh man little Goats...I remember trying to sort out the socks at my Daughter's house.... A whole basket of SOCKS! For her and DH, and their 2 Sons! It took me YEARS! I was just trying to help.... I don't think it's possible that she EVER sorted out those socks! They just lived in the basket, and "every man for himself!" They all should have been WHITE, or BLACK, and all the same size, with no colored trim! That would make it easier!
And you fold underwear? Well I do too, but they seem to become tired of that, and get up in the middle of the night, and go every which way!
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I read a blog where a woman said she finally went out and bought all pink sox for her 2 girls, blue for the boy, and black for her husband. Her husband wouldn't like it when the boy wore his sister's purple ninja turtle sox and she finally figured out the boy just didn't know which sox were his. Both GS wear white and the little one puts on his brother's fairly often.
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Today is the last day of Cool Breeze, /Ann's best health blog contest. She is barely holding on to first. The blog is called
But Doctor I hate Pink.
http://www.healthline.com/health/best-health-blogs...
This is the last day of the contest. I have known this woman online here at BCO for three + years now. She is trying to win this best health blog contest prize of $1,000. for her son's college fund. It takes just a moment to vote, I also vote on my twitter account as well as Facebook. It is very quick.
If you have the time to vote please do so, Ann will appreciate it.
Hugs Barb
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Blessings, Sweet Peas a cardiac nurse, I was using nurse lingo to her-VERY GLAD YOU SPELLED IT OUT IN DEPTH.
Others can and should consider scheduled round the clock use of pain meds when around the clock pain is an issue. You will actually use less pain medicine overall, b/c when pain gets out of control you, generally, need twice as much to get it under control.
There is a two page pain thread I answered allot of questions. I don't bump it b/c the second page got into a discussion on addiction. It wasn't appropriate to the talk of pain med after sx etc.
I'll put the link here, but keep in mind while you may read the addiction stuff, concentrate on the pain scale & med use. I explain how to use the pain scale. Too many professionals use the smiley faces. The smiley faces work with children. Adults need a definition.
http://community.breastcancer.org/topic_post?forum_id=8&id=770655&page=1
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OMG Chevy and Wren, SOCKS spawn too! AND they never match their parents!
Littlegoats, no I don't have a proper linen closet LOL When DH was so ill, changing sheets was very frequent. I put two baskets in the bed room---one flat sheets, the other pillow cases. I used the flat sheets instead of cornered sheets. I didn't tuck anything. I could change a sheet likety split.
Later I realized how convenient it was to have the sheets and pillowcases in the same room. Emptied out a drawer or two in each bedroom for s/p's. I still don't use fitted sheets. Now I have lots more room in the linen closet, but it keeps spawning things too.
I guess that linen closet needs a firm hand and a large garbage basket to get it under control. Okey-dokey--off I go to do battle.
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Sas, How do you keep flat sheets on the bed? I have trouble keeping the fitted ones on. I think DH rolls up in the blankets. How else could it end up with covers over him and bare bed on both sides (including mine).
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This is soooooo funny! About socks, buttons and paper clips! Erma Bombeck...
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Sas- let me bore you for a minute about what I learned about pain.
Even though I had a two year masters degree in Medical Counseling, I asked to be referred to the Chronic Pain Management clinic at Kaiser. I went every Wednesday afternoon, from 1 - 4 pm, for ten weeks. The reason was severe pain from fibromyalgia.
The Orientation session was a real eye-opener. You could tell right away who would be in the program and who would not. Just sitting in the hallway, waiting for our room to open, several people just bitched and moaned and complained about everything. EVERYTHING! One man got so angry he was going to march into the room we were waiting for, and tell the lecturer he had to leave - it was OUR turn! The lecturer turned out to be the Psychologist who was leading the Orientation.
You had to be evaluated to get into the program. It took a one hour appointment each, with the Physiatrist (Rehabilitation Medicine doc), the Psychologist, and the Physical Therapist. They were checking to make sure all physical causes for pain had been identified, that you had the personality to benefit from the program, and the ability to at least try to do some of the exercises that would be taught.
The three hour classes started with two hours on the anatomy and control of pain. In some cases, we really do have control over how we perceive the pain signals. Anger, sadness, and other negative emotions DO affect our perception. There is documented physiological evidence that these emotions flood the brain with stress chemicals that open up the "pain gateway" in the spinal cord. This allows pain signals to have more and FASTER access to the pain center in the brain.
That's why things like deep breathing and meditation really do help. They bring oxygen to O2-starved muscles, increase endorphins in the bloodstream, and start to close down the pain gateway almost immediately. Also, focusing on some activity other than your pain (distraction) is helpful.
I had taken years of Neuroanatomy classes, and this was the first I'd ever heard about the pain center of the brain, or the pain gateway explanation of how pain signals reach the brain.
The last hour of the class was devoted to the Physical Therapist, who gave us individualized exercises to help our pain issues, and also taught us the basics of Tai Chi. (I never followed up on that... my balance sucks.)
I left that program knowing SO much more about how much control I had over my pain. When I started to hurt, I usually went through a cycle of "This is awful! I hurt all over! This pain is increasing! I can't stand it!" which, of course, made it worse.
I kept on practicing the principles they taught in the program, and it helped, (even five years later, after my BMX and recon.)
The other thing I learned was the reality of taking pain meds. If we needed them, we needed them, and addiction was not a concern.
We were told that if we were taking pain medication to eliminate all our pain, we were abusing the drugs. If we were taking pain medication to simply be able to function during the day, or get some restorative sleep at night, we were using the medication in a proper way.
For most of us, pain is a reality, and we will never be completely without some sort of pain. But with a combination of the right medications - narcotics, or any other meds that have proven to be effective, plus relaxation and distraction, we can get to a point of our highest level of functioning that is possible, given our individual conditions.
Of course, this is for CHRONIC pain. Acute pain has a whole 'nuther set of requirements; mostly, to alleviate the pain and reduce stress on the body, so it can heal. Pain causes an incredible amount of stress, and a body that is stressed cannot heal.
Anyway..... I'm done rambling..... the good news is that I may have put some of you insomniacs to sleep!!!!
You're welcome!!!
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Blessings - You didn't bore me at all. Thanks. I'm sitting here on my hiney thinking how I hurt. I need to get up, deep breathe and distract. I sit here more when DH is at work - I feel too guilty sitting if he's outside working even if it's something I can't do.
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Blessings, Very interesting! When I was in labor with my first child, I drew a mental line across my back just above the waist. I decided that my body knew how to have a baby and my brain didn't need to be involved, therefore no signals were to cross the line. And it worked. I can also go to my special place (a specific beach in Hawaii) to avoid pain. I have to convince the doctors to stop talking to me. I tell them not to speak unless to offer me a Mai Tai. Unfortunately, it doesn't work at the dentist. My yoga teacher said there were 2 ways to deal with pain. One was to draw your consciousness up into the crown of your head. The other was to become one with the pain. I think the first would work for chronic pain and the second for sudden pain.
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I wonder if that would work with stress. I am already worked up about the surgery for tomorrow, particularly the IV since my veins suck in my right arm and my left is off limits. I tell myself all will be well, but yet I have a hard time relaxing and believing it. They won't let me take anything for stress till I get there which is at 8 surgery at 10. When I had my mx they let me take a Valium before, but my surgery was at 3p. I know deep breathing right...
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NJmom - In your pocket for tomorrow. But I forget what you're having done. Hope you're well hydrated up until your NPO cutoff time. I agree with Teka - make a friend of an aide, transporter (wink, wink what I did) to bring nice warm blanket, your own soft socks (if allowed at least until OR time) will help relax. I think they actually let me keep mine on the whole time (anklet athletic socks).
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Luv I have been having issues with healing after my mx so the ps is redoing the incision since I have an open wound, he is also changing out the te as long as there is No sign of infection. If he does not put the new te in, I will have to wait for up to a year for reconstruction to start again. All this one month to the day if my first surgery! The worst is the dreaded drains will be back!
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You're right. The drains are the worst. Here's hoping it all goes well and you don't have to wait a year.
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Love all you Owletts
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