Norco is my devil

Norco is the oral medication I was given for pain after the surgery. It is a mix of Vicodin and acetaminophen and I like to think of it as a souped up version of Vicodin. It's great stuff when you have an iron digestive stomach and a tummy that isn't the recent location of a surgery...

When my doctor sent me home he told me to get on a laxative because Norco can prohibit normal bodily functions from occurring. We bought the brand he suggested (Senokot Sensitive Laxative) and I took one pill before bedtime each night. On day 4 of the recovery and after a visit to my doctor for staple removals, he reminded me to take one every night which I did. It was not enough. A week after the surgery I was still taking the normal dosage of Norco, experiencing intense pain, and close to needing my 3rd prescription refilled. We started to worry. Ed called the nurses station at found out that I should have been on stool softeners (big difference between a laxative and a stool softener) while on Norco. Once adding that in, it took about a day to get everything functioning again using laxatives, stool softeners, and even tried a suppository (no luck). The nurse also suggested I reduce the amount of Norco I was using because it was the culprit to my problem so I went off of the stuff cold turkey. Big mistake.

One day after stopping the Norco, I started to cough, sneeze, and I got a low grade fever. Coughing and sneezing during the early stages of my abdominal surgery was the worst pain I've ever felt. The comfort of a pillow to protect my tummy wasn't much comfort. 48 hours later and after wanting to die several times, the fever broke, the stomach spasms stopped, and I felt somewhat normal again. From that point on I only used Tylenol for pain.

The Surgery, Hopsital, and Coming Home, November 6-7th, 2008

On Thursday, November 6th, I had a very successful surgery! The surgery was a breeze (mainly because I was knocked out) while the recovery was a doozy. Our one night in the hospital was enough to strive to be released the next day. The hospital is the last place to get rest although the nurses and staff were amazing.

I experienced an annoying reaction to morphine that made me have phantom itches. When you're not very mobile and your tummy is bandaged up it's really hard to itch your big toe or middle of the back. Luckily I was always surrounded with Ed and/or my mom. I was able to wean off of the morphine early the next day because the Norco (oral medication consisting of Vicodin and acetaminophen) worked well for my pain. After about 4 hours on the Norco and after a visit from my doctor, he released me to go home. I was so excited!

When we arrived home and after my very protective mom left, I coaxed Ed into letting me try to make it up the stairs. See, initially, we planned on sleeping in our downstairs bedroom and avoid the stairs for a few days however I love my bed and would be miserable anywhere else. I was astonished at how reasonably easy it was to maneuver upstairs using the rails and Ed as support.