Last Night's Adventure in Pain

To begin, last night was very painful because I was taking less medication than I was authorized.  So a lot of this pain, I created for myself.

However, since this is the first time that I have died, the process is still a little new to me and I have more to learn.  With hospice care, I actually have access to a nurse for 24x7.  All I need do is call.  For the past couple of nights, the nurse on the phone would review my current medication plan and simply tell me to take more.

But here's a couple of tips to pass onto anyone who's doing this same sort of thing.

First, keep a good log of all the medicine you do take as you take it for example,  my log looks something like this :

8/16 02:30 30mg Oxy - PL 8
8/15 23:35 30mg Oxy - PL 4

and so on - this I keep as a little note that I keep on my iPhone.  But where it's useful is when I have that phone call with the on call nurse, instead of reading it over the phone, I email it directly to the nurse, and she can see exactly what I am doing.

Instantly, she can read it for an accurate judgement of what I should do next.

Last night, the pain was so bad, that they actually sent a nurse to the house at 02:00, and my wife greeted her at the door.

I didn't know that this is what the service actually can do.  Sure I get regular visits to monitor other things, but all it took was a single phone call to get help.

Well the nurse examined my legs for bruises and other problems and concluded that a large source of trouble was just how the airmatress was working, and because of my height, I was sliding into the foot of the bed, producing a lot of pressure pains.

With a little work on pillows, we fixed it, and circulation was restored as it should be.

Problem solved, and I can rest.