Sweat Hog

, I am old enough to remember "Welcome Back Kotter," which means I could be menopausal. However, I don't think that's the explanation for my hot flashes.

We are having a heat wave in Portland, with temperatures expected to peak in three digits tomorrow. But our house is cool, and I've been spending the majority of my time indoors.

It's been a bitch trying to regulate my body temperature. I think this is a residual effect of all the heavy-duty drugs introduced into my formerly drug-free body over the past several weeks -- epidural, general anesthesia, oxycodone, oxycontin -- as my body tries to detoxify. But it seems to be taking forever!

My last Oxy was 5 days ago, and I did experience two days of withdrawal-type symptoms (nausea, headache, irritability, inability to sleep, sweating). The only remaining symptom now is the hot/sweat/cold cycle I'm in. It's far worse at night, when I wake up drenched, throw open the windows, throw off my clothes, and then become freezing cold. I load up on blankets, and the cycle repeats. All night long. In between I'm able to sleep, but every morning I wake up soggy and, well, smelly. And unhappy.

It could be worse. My hip pain is really minimal, for which I'm grateful. I'm just taking occasional Tylenol for pain. My last Fragmin injection is tomorrow (YEAH!) I get to ditch the lovely TED compression stockings tomorrow (YEAH!) Overall I feel fantastic. I just wish I could stay cool, or warm, or somewhere in between, and remain there.

I got on the scale this morning to find I'd lost just over 10 pounds since my PAO, which is not something I expected. I had gained 10 lbs. from date of diagnosis and was able to lose 5 of that before surgery, so now I'm 5 pounds below my weight before all this started. Perhaps it's all water weight, although I've been careful to stay hydrated during this sweatfest. I actually look a lot thinner, especially my legs and rear, and I think I may be losing muscle mass, which is not something I want, but would explain the severe weight loss. I can't wait for physical therapy (starting in September) so that I can sweat legitimately and start building those muscles back up.

2 weeks post-op

I am a couple of days late with this post as my two week post-op day was Wednesday and it is now Friday. I don't have scar pictures (the post-op photo I took with my phone is pretty blurry), although it looks good. I'll have to get Perry to take a photo tonight because this just wouldn't be a PAO blog without scar photos!

Last night I took a bath. Shhh, don't tell Dr. Mayo, because I don't think I'm supposed to. Some hip chicks are allowed to do hydrotherapy when they are still in the hospital for crying out loud, so I didn't think a bath would kill me. I was careful not to get the scar wet. I am a Pisces. We fish like to be immersed in water. I can't swim until week 6 per doctor's orders, so this is the best I can do. It felt really good to sit in warm water.

Here's my progress at the two-week mark (as of this past Wednesday):
~I am off all prescription/narcotic drugs. Had a bit of withdrawal for a couple of days (headache, nausea, sweating, inability to sleep) as I probably came off them too rapidly; I don't recommend that. Next time I'll taper more gradually. I'm just taking occasional Tylenol for pain. I think I've had just one dose of Tylenol.
~CPM is at 90 degrees, meaning I can get rid of it
~I can sleep on my non-operated side for about an hour and can flip on to my stomach (but can't sleep that way)
~I can shower (sitting down) by myself
~I can shave my legs
~I can get dressed by myself without any helpful devices. Hardest part is to put on socks and shoes, but I can do it.
~I can get in and out of the car without assistance (passenger side - can't drive for 4 more weeks)
~I have been working from home up to 4 hours per day (but not on a very regular schedule; usually about an hour per day).
~As mentioned, incision looks very good. It looks too good, in fact. Who would believe I had major surgery with this wimpy scar? It lacks the necessary gore factor.
~I did laundry while sitting on a stool last night.

Problems I'm still having:
~Sleeping through the night now that I'm off narcotics; usually I get 4 hours of sleep and then another 2-3 during the day. Despite this, I'm not really tired.
~My hands are killing me from crutching. I could crutch for miles if it weren't for that. I have padding for the handles and I have padded bike gloves, but still.
~Regulating my body temperature. I thought this was related to taking the opiates, but it's still an issue. One minute I'm sweating and the next I'm freezing.