Home James

Well I arrived home from hospital yesterday after 10 days of one the most interesting periods of my life. Made it to 47 without ever being admitted to a hospital and it will be just fine with me if it takes another 47 for the next one!

I have some thoughts on the whole experience and I may post them - I've already shared them with a few close friends but this thing ain't over yet so I might hold on to them in case they should come back and bite me.

So where am I up to.....

Not a lot has changed since my last update - other than things got a bit worse before they started to get better again which resulted in some final tinkering of the cocktail of drugs I'm on (10 in total) to manage this thing. The drugs fall into 3 categories: 1. Things that reduce the inflammation; 2. Things that reduce the pain; 3. Things that deal with the side effects of 1 & 2.

The prognosis is that full recovery is looking like about a 9 to 12 month process. Functionally each day is better and I'm planning to return to work (at least part time) on 21March which whilst the doctors suggest is mildly optimistic it is not unrealistic. The main hurdle is to wean off the cortisone and the narcotic painkillers and be able to cope with the symptoms that will be with me for a long time yet.

In terms of keeping a record - dosages of the main drugs immediately prior to discharge were:

Prednisone 15mg morning, 5mg night (plan to decrease)
Naproxyn 1gram night (plan to decrease)
Sulfasalazine 500gms night (plan to increase)
Oxycontin 15mg morning, 15mg night (plan to decrease)
Panadeine Forte 4 x 2 daily (plan to decrease)
Endone up to 20mg per day taken as required
Temazapem 10mg night taken as required

I've already knocked 5mg per morning & night off the Oxycontin and have increased Sulfasalazine to 500mg morning & night. For the record I haven't taken any Endone since discharge.

In terms of pain, on a 1 to 10 scale the above cocktail results in a 2 to 3 lying perfectly still in a comfortable position. 3 to 5 moving carefully around and spikes to 7/8 if I do dumb shit. With luck I can maintain that as I wean - if I can't it will mean longer off work as I can't function properly in my job or indeed drive till I'm off the narcotic painkillers.

I've have had to abandon any thoughts of doing Hellgate in April, but hopefully I can still turn up in a support role. The other real bugger is it will be sometime before I can play guitar again which has left an enormous hole in my life.

It might not be all good, but it is better :)