I can’t say the last couple of weeks have been particularly great, and it feels very much like I’m back to no better than pre-surgery, with the addition of neck pain that I get after my neck has been unsupported for more than an hour, sometimes less. The pain has shifted in that the core of it is centred a bit below my shoulder blades most of the time, and the acute stabbing tends to be focused more in the left, but the right still gets its fair share. Times like last night when I had a very elevated level of pain, it’s like the shoulder blades are taking it in turns.
I think my energy levels are starting to pick up. I still get knackered quite easily but I do seem to be able to do more before that really kicks in. I’ve done a bit of decorating over the last few days – well I’ve pushed a paint roller around a wall if that counts – but in short bursts and with long rest breaks in between. This is almost certainly adding to the pain, but is doing wonders for me mentally as I’ve been getting so frustrated with feeling useless and seeing jobs piling up, despite Ruth doing so much (way too much!) to help.
Sleeping has become more of a problem. Well, I should probably say it’s a different type of problem to my normal poor sleep pattern. I’m finding that laying on my left as I normally do is causing a lot of discomfort around the whole of my left shoulder. If I sleep on my right it often feels like my spine is being compressed. If I sleep on my back it typically feels like I’m laying with a rod pointing into each shoulder blade. (I’ve avoided using the stilettos analogy again after a friend decided she felt the need to ask which part of my (as she suggested “murky”) past she needed to explore for me to know what being stood on by stilettos felt like! 😮🤣). I also challenge the dog in the snoring stakes if I lie on my back (or at least that’s according to Ruth). As for lying on my front, I just don’t find it comfortable, and generally seem to twist myself up in strange positions which of course then causes even more pain. One good thing about my sleep is that, when I do eventually get to sleep, I seem to get a fairly solid sleep between trips to the loo every two to three hours.
I got a message from the clinical pharmacist yesterday asking me to start monitoring my blood pressure again. Only two readings done so far – yesterday morning and evening – but at 128/70 in the morning and 133/81 in the evening (by which time I was in a lot of pain) it looks like the extra Lacidipine is working.