Ouch. By the second day, all residual pain relievers from the surgery, from local or anesthesia, were gone. Beginning 28 hours after the surgery, I upped my hydrocodone acetaminophen dose from one pill to two every four hours. This definitely helped get me through that second night. By morning I was able to switch back to the one pill dose.
I haven't been pleased with the 12 hour Naproxen regimen, so I planned to switch to a regimen that had worked well for me following a recent foot surgery. A post-surgical nurse who called to check up on me also confirmed that the switch would be fine. Basically, I would take the meds on an overlapping schedule, leap-frogging through the day: one hydrocodone at 7:00, 11:00, 3:00, 7:00, etc...; normal dose of Ibuprofen at 9:00, 1:00, 5:00, 9:00, etc...
So far, so good. Actually, last night (third night) I took the last hydrocodone at 8:30 PM and then only one Ibuprofen during the night, plus one Benadryl to knock me out. I resumed the leapfrogging med schedule this morning, but I am really hoping that this will be the last day for controlled substances. They have their place, but they make me nervous!
I wish that I could apply cold directly to the surgical sites, but I'm so thickly bandaged that it's just not possible. I continue to apply cold packs to the inner elbow around the clock. It's hard to tell if it's helping or not.
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