Day Six - The wonders of oxycodone

I actually posted a message on a forum about the nerve twinges, asking if it was normal...here's one response that I got:
"Nerves are really delicate, and surgery tends to freak them out. Being brushed against or even just exposed to air can cause weird nerve symptoms for weeks to months after the surgery. Permanent and significant nerve damage is rarer.

After my ankle arthroscopy, I had this "electric shock" sensation on my last two toes. That faded within a few weeks as I healed. Half of my big toe was completely numb, that went away 14 months after the surgery. A LOT of us experience weird nerve symptoms, most of them go away or decrease significantly.

Also, some of the tingling may just be from swelling. Keep elevating, be patient, and DO mention it to your surgeon at your scheduled follow-up.  "


I'm not sure if I should feel at ease with this or not...but at least I'm not alone. 

So yesterday evening was a little more on the painful side.  As I mentioned, I tried to swap to Motrin, which I will go ahead an call it a failed experiment.  I guess it doesn't really help too much with nerve pain, but my hope was that the nerve might have been just aggravated by swelling, and the anti-inflammatory meds would have helped with that.  I was getting a bunch of tingling before bed, some twinges and the warm sensation before bed.

This time, I decided to switch back to the Oxycodone.  Unfortunately, since it only lasts about 4 hours, I was expecting the worst as soon as it wore off in the middle of the night.  I took an Oxycodone just before falling asleep, right around 1am.  I woke up around 4am.  To my groggy joy, I didn't feel any pain.  I decided to slowly move my ankle around in the cast before getting up to use the bathroom.  In my weird way, I felt this would warm it up enough so that nothing gets kicked off when I finally get up.  Well, not sure if it was that, or the Oxycodone, but I got up pretty much unscathed.  The only thing that I felt was the warming sensation in my calf muscle.  I felt it was close enough to the next dosage that I would just go ahead and take another Oxy and then head back to sleep.

I woke up at around 9am, again, no major stinging pain.  I'm guessing the Oxycodone has to be the key?  Well, whatever it was, I was just glad not to start off the day in any major pain.  I laid in bed again, letting the ankle warm up a bit, before getting up, when I got a call from the surgeon's office.  Perfect timing!  I described the pain that I was having and asked if it was common.  She said that it was a common pain, and it might take "some time" for it to go away.  Not sure what she means by "some time", whether it's a few days, weeks, months or years.  She also said that tingling was common as well.  That made me feel a little better.

She also said that in my follow-up appointment, I should be getting rid of the cast, and they will allow me to walk for the first time also.  That'll be a relief!

Pretty much a standard post-op day...I'm still going to keep my foot elevated.  I am still feeling an occasional sharp, burning pain and warm sensation...but it's not radiating through my foot.  Unfortunately, that with me on the wonder-drug keeping the pain at bay.  Can't imagine what it'd feel like without  (is this how pain-killer addiction starts?)