Day 125: Pain Level Creeping Up

I continued my drug weening strategy. I took 1 ibuprofen with breakfast and I will take 1 Tylenol 3 when I go to bed. For the last few weeks, taking 2 ibuprofens (morning and afternoon) and one Tylenol 3 at night has kept my pain level between 2 and 3 (except for graduation week where it hovered around a 6).

Today, my pain level creeped up to a 4. My feet were sore when I woke up, and they bothered me throughout the day. I iced two times to reduce some of the aching. I will start thinking of my strategy to drop down to 1 pill per day tomorrow. I am not sure if I will cut out the ibuprofen or the Tylenol 3 first.

I haven't worked out since my last PT session. I have been putting in so many hours on my dissertation that I haven't wanted to cut out the time for a workout. I was going to swim today, but the weather has been bad.

I had another productive day working on my dissertation. I am 1-2 serious work days away from being done with the full draft. My dissertation has been distracting me from thinking about my doctor's appointment on Wednesday and my upcoming surgery. I have focused all of my energy on taking care of my academic responsibilities before I am out of commission again. It was really difficult to read even two weeks out from my first surgery because of the haze that the pain meds cause. I actually remember being really frustrated trying to text from my hospital bed because all of the letters were running together, making it really hard for me to type.

It is funny or tragic to think that most people look for distractions from writing their dissertation, while I am using my dissertation as a distraction from my sad circumstances.