Vent:
I need to stock my freezer up with freezer meals and since I don’t usually buy pre-prepared frozen meals.
I was excited and took my happy little ass to the freezer section at my grocery store the other day only to find that the one meal I know I like Has been reduced by almost 50% size and is now $.40 more
Ugh!
I’m not sure if I need to plan for something different, go to a different store, or just do a bunch of pre-cooking and freeze some things (Not as delicious, I hate cooking and I’m also bad-ish at it).
What I’m thinking:
Frozen vegetable dumplings
Frozen full meals
Maaaaybe frozen burritos? (Not my favorite but at least I can cook these comparable to store taste)
Canned meals/partial meals: maybe like some stuffed grape leaves, seasoned beans, veggie soups?
Basically it seems like what I’m saying is I need to make a trip to the Asian grocery and a trip to the Mediterranean grocery.
Now how to find the time to do so without entering burn out (I can tell I’m on the edge lately)…
I’m taking a sewing class at the public library. I signed up monthsssss ago and the class is actually pretty hard to get into (only 8 ppl at a time). I also purchased a machine to take this class. It’s every Tuesday and Saturday until the Saturday before my surgery (Tuesday).
I had my first class on Tuesday and will go to my second class today.
I thought it would be a good distraction leading up to surgery. I am now rethinking this.
It seems so rude to drop out only two or three classes in, but I’m considering not going any longer and signing up for a later date in the summer or fall. Or I could sign up for a class at the fairly expensive private studio near my house, they run classes every few months all year round.
Mostly, I am worried about germs – I really really don’t want to get sick and have to reschedule surgery.
I have a friend with an expensive plane ticket and precious time off on the line.
As my surgery date is approaching, I have noticed I’m getting more and more cautious about where I go, etc and I can’t stop thinking about how someone was coughing in class on Tuesday. Like… I cannot stop thinking about it. Also, since it is a downtown public library, there was vomit all over the cement on the accessible ramp when I walked up.
I know I have diagnosed OCD, Maybe I’m just ruminating, but what do y’all think?
There is a chance that if I drop out the teacher will blacklist me, she’s a hard ass.
can you tell her that you have planned surgery, and hadn’t anticipated how stressful the concern about communicable illness was going to be? I can’t imagine someone blacklisting a person based on that information - just ghosting yes, but this is a real reason.
I think it would be wise to drop the class. You’ve put a lot into preparing for your surgery (effort, money, time, etc.), and it would be heartbreaking if you had to reschedule the surgery due to illness. I don’t know what paid sewing classes cost but I’d hazard a guess that it’s less than what it would cost to have to reschedule your surgery.
would wearing a mask help calm your concerns? i still wear masks any time i’m inside with more than one or two people i know and it really does help, though it doesn’t provide 100% protection. i.e. i haven’t had covid yet, to my knowledge.
quitting is a reasonable option! just wanted to throw out another option that might let you continue to participate in this thing you wanted to do.
Thank you so much! I actually never stopped wearing a mask in public so I’m definitely still masked up
I think perhaps I’m being a little paranoid, but I think it’s OK to be careful – I sent her an email and left a voicemail backing out of class – perhaps it’s early enough that she can give that spot to someone else.
Oh yeah. There was maybe a week where I did like two things without a mask and it didn’t feel good, so I went back to masking.
On my side of town there’s actually a good portion of folks who still mask, probably like 1/3rd or 1/4th of the ppl at the grocery store, compared to zero in the “cooler” areas of the city.
I think it’s a representation of who is most vulnerable and who lacks or does not lack resources if they were to get sick, but I digress.
I’m now wrestling between wanting to spend as much time as possible outside in case I don’t wake up or something terrible (outside is my favorite place) and not wanting to be outside because I don’t want to end up with the allergy sniffles (or worse, heavy congestion) and get turned away from anesthesia.
I love having a security door. I can use it like a whiteboard and also magnetize things on it. Anyways, here’s my little whiteboard for med tracking, etc, my blue folder from the hospital with all my recover and prep instructions, and my physical therapy rehab program.
Ok. Things have been stressful leading up to this week, but we’re now nine days out.
I spent all of yesterday dropping off back stock with volunteers so that the pet food pantries can run while I lay in bed. That was a lot of boxes to move, but I’m feeling confident that all four locations will operate while I’m recovering.
Chicken helpers are coming over today to get a walk through.
Sad
Janet is still very ill and I’m not sure if she’s going to make it, so I’m holding off on the more complex medical explanations as I’m going to say goodbye to her on Thursday/Friday if she hasn’t improved. It will have been over a week with no progress on strong meds, so I sadly think it the most loving thing I can do.
Other than these last few things, I’m completely prepped.
I got my friend a little skincare set (small enough that she can fly home with it) as a thank you and plan to mail her something afterwards too, as I can’t think of anything else small enough to gift her to fly with.
I do have a question/concern: I’ve never taken painkillers before. Ok maybe when I was like 14 as a party drug, but I certainly don’t remember. I am TERRIFIED of the oxycodone they gave me. Will I even be conscious if I take it? What will it feel like? Will it immediately become addictive and I’ll have to be both withdrawing and recovering from surgery?
I think a lot of this concern comes from not wanting to be outside of my own control, and also awareness of my addictive personality.
I purposely avoid drugs and alcohol and can become addicted to almost anything (caffeine, diets, etc).
I work on this is therapy, but it’s a consistent ever present thing, and it’s making me terrified of my post op painkillers!
Anyone have any experience?
I’m sorry about Janet not getting better. You have been the best chicken caretaker she could ask for.
I don’t have any experience with the oxycodone questions. I just want to say that you have been so thorough in your preparation and arrangements. I hope you have a smooth surgery and a gentle recovery.
I have not had this type of surgery but I was prescribed I think it was oxycodone after getting my wisdom teeth out last year (which is much later than the age most people get theirs removed, and this it was a bit more complicated than the usual wisdom teeth removal). I shared my concerns with the operating dentist and he said that some people got by just alternating Tylenol and Advil (aka acetaminophen and ibuprofen). The ibuprofen was a higher than normal doses. He did write my the rx for the oxycodone but left it up to me if I got it filled or not. They also had a paper with a clear layout of “on this day you will have about this much pain, after two days it will actually get worse but then it will improve after that, if xyz happens then that means you need further assistance because that’s not good/normal”. I wanna say recovery was like a week? Maybe two? So, shorter than yours, and I had much less tissue being affected than you’re going to so I have no idea if this is helpful information.
My mom is extremely avoidant of that type of drug after terrible experiences with it in the past, and when she had a procedure a few months ago the anesthesiologist was kind of thrown for a loop because that limited what they were able to offer. There were a few other things they could try but they didn’t reduce the pain as well and they wore off much sooner (I’m probably not remembering exactly, but say she could only get one of the drugs every eight hours and the pain relief wore off after maybe three hours and then felt miserable until she was able to get her next dose from the nurse five hours later).
A thought - can you ask for the prescription to be provided in smaller amounts - like four 25% doses instead of one 100% dose pill if that makes sense?
When I have had this in the past, I tried to think of it as one step up from an high dose of ibuprofen. That helped me decide if I needed it or not. I know that’s not medically accurate, but I’ve always had leftovers when it is prescribed to me and I tend to have weird rare side effects so the fewer meds I take the less anxious I am. It makes me feel sleepy, so it may be a good thing to take the first few days of recovery when you need rest the most— and then switch to ibuprofen if you can?
My dad takes oxycodone as needed for neuropathy pain.
He is conscious when he takes it. It does make him sleepy but it doesn’t make him unconscious. He says it doesn’t really have much of an effect on him, other than dulling pain considerably, making him sleepy, and making him feel a little more relaxed. He is in no way outside of his own control - he is fully cognizant and aware. (This is consistent with my personal experiences with hydrocodone, a closely related drug.)
He also has a somewhat addictive personality - you guys have some similarities - but he has not become addicted to it and has never experienced withdrawal. This is true when he’s taken it every night for several nights in a row. He is also very aware of addiction and so doesn’t typically take it more than a few days in row.
If you’re worried, talk to your doctor about using acetaminophen/ibuprofen cycling for basic pain management and the oxycodone as needed for breakthrough pain. They may have tips.
i had oxycodone after my hysterectomy a few years ago and it didn’t knock me out or make me feel anything besides relaxed and not in pain. i was conscious and aware of everything going on around me.
i decided to just follow the prescribed pain med protocol for 3 days, and then i started taking meds based on how i felt rather than what time it was on the clock. i ended up taking advil during the day and an oxy in the evening.
five or six days after surgery, it was the evening and i wasn’t in that much pain, but i felt myself wanting an oxy anyway. so i consciously decided not to take any at that point, even though i had a few left in my prescription.
also, some people get nauseous from it, but most people i know don’t have that reaction.
Thank you everyone. I have already filled the RX and have I believe three days worth, so it’s not like they gave me a giant jumbo bottle or anything… I’m just nervous.
I did speak to them about my concerns and they gave me the paper RX instead of calling it it, but I did choose to fill it.
Ooops I posted before I was done. So I think I’ll try it for a day or so. Ugh. I’m nervous
I was prescribed oxy for my C-section and didn’t take any after the first day while I was still in the hospital.
I don’t think it’s instantly addictive and it probably won’t knock you out, although I do feel loopy/strange on Vicodin and other strong pain killers so I don’t like taking them. My basic understanding is that if you keep taking it repeatedly for long periods of time your body will get used to it. But a few days of pain management and then switching to other pain meds is a low risk scenario for most people. Obviously discuss with your own doctor.
I was nervous about Oxy after my surgeries too. What I found was when I was in a ton of pain right after surgery the nervousness/questioning whether I needed it disappeared and I was just so happy for pain relief. As soon as I started to wonder “do I really need this or would ibuprofen be ok” I knew I was done with it. For my first surgery that was 2 days post op, for the second (bigger hip surgery) it was 7 days. It did make me sleepy, but only pleasantly so, and the first 2 days post op were such a blur anyway. At no time did I ever feel totally knocked out or not with it though!
i had thought i was the only one left!!
Sorry I’m so morbid. 
