Now I Know Nickel Allergy to my BHRs - On The Path To Healing

[Two4One]

Thanks, nanu!  I'm pleased as punch you're doin' good!

'One

[Two4One]

Thursday,  March 08, 2012  2:45am

Wednesday
Sleep     10pm to 1:30 (3 1/2 Hours)

I have the night sweats 'cause I dropped the Dilaudid down again yesterday morning by 2mg.  Today and Yesterday's new total is 16mg Dilaudid, and I'll hold to that dosage for a few days until the withdrawal symptoms abate again.  Then, time for another drop!  Oh, Boy! ;)

Just in case any newbie has to go through a long taper or weaning off previous long term reliance on heavy narcotics, you need to be aware that your body will take about six months to start producing serotonin normally after the cessation of opiads.  Serotonin plays such an important role in so many brain functions, such as the regulation of mood, heart-rate, sleep, appetite, pain and other things.  This is why Doc Pain reinstated the Vicodin 7.5mg to basically use for mood regulation.  The plan is once the Dilaudid is done and gone, we reduce and wean off the Vicodin (again).

I'm moving at a right fast clip, so I'm rolling with it.  It's cool.  I want my summer to be sober, except for a cold one!  (My max was 2/day, and now is only one a day, not everyday, for obvious reasons.)  Sleep tight, Hippies.

When the night has come
And the land is dark
And the moon is the only light we'll see
No, I won't be afraid, No, I won't be afraid
Just as long, just as long as you stand by me1


1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jRbTJRT7SRQ Ben E. King - Stand by Me

[Two4One]

Thursday,  March 08, 2012  8:45am

Wednesday
Sleep     10pm to 1:30 (3 1/2 Hrs) + 4am to 6am (2 Hrs) = 5 1/2 Hours 

Now that's more like it!
__________________________________________________________________
   
Good Morning, Hippies!

Everything is peachy.  Perfect in fact.  I've had a whole bunch of physical restrictions lifted yesterday, and my healing was pronounced "amazing" by my (PT)!   I said "Oh come on!  You say that to everybody!"  Of course, PT K'n emphatically denied this.  However, for the first time in my life, I do have an actual butt, and they say hips don't lie!  Hubs keeps asking me to do my 'hip exercises' the rest of my life, lol!  I told him I would.

Also, tomorrow and from now on until I finish my formal Land PT, I get to work out in the Gym with weights!!!!!!!!  I'm so excited to go heft some iron with a bunch of roided up gym rats!  My idea of heaven on earth!  It's been so long since I've been in my natural environment, The Gym, and you may not know how I always lifted four times a week my whole life, except for those times I got married.  Thankfully, this one is relatively low maintenance and wants me to do my own thing, and just as long as I keep on spoiling him, Hub's happy!  You know the mens like their comforts of a clean home, three home cooked meals a day, pretty gardens to look at, and knowing their wives adore them.

I'm getting excited about garden season coming at us.  I've bought large starter trays dirt cheap *Ha!* on sale that will be sitting all along the 10 foot long, 2 ft deep ledge of our eastern facing bank of windows in our walkout basement.  This will be my first garden I've had in three years, and nowadays I get a little teary with happiness and gratitude a couple of seconds almost everyday. 

Anyway, this year it's going to be solely a flower cutting garden, with perennials and annuals all from seed that I'm starting towards the end of the month.   Although it will be a massive flower cutting garden with blooms shared with favored neighbors, the emphasis is all on attracting butterflies and birds, and it has a simple classic design.  I'm also putting together an indoor gardening center, with a floor to ceiling shelving/potting area, in front of one side of the sliding glass basement walkout doors.

What are you planting this year?  Can I see pictures of all your new renovations in the photo area?

On the Hubs front, March 31st is coming up on Hubs last day at Big World Company.  For his new business, he has his section of our basement all finished and tricked out with three huge contiguous computer screens on a massive 6' x 4' table that he built.  He calls it 'The Command Center'!  Though Hubs says if I want to I can call him 'Warlock', our nicknames are really 'Alpha Dog', 'Beta Dog', and 'Omega' for our actual dog. :P  Those first two names are an in joke on the last 'Die Hard' movie "Live Free or Die Hard":
   
     The Warlock: [to Matt] Why did you bring a cop to my command center?
     John McClane: [laughs] Command center? It's a basement.
     The Warlock: [angrily] Who is this man?

Another bit of news: We are going to Naples, FL and leaving on Easter Sunday.  We have no worries right now, and we all are getting the chance to create and shape the lives we've always wanted.  I'm so glad that we are on this journey together here at Surface Hippy, and many of us are either in that place of peace and gratitude or growing into it.  That makes me feel like we are sharing a small part of each others' lives.  Our common theme seems to be transformation. 

Well, I'm closing now because if I write anymore it'll be a novel!

Two4

[hernanu]

Well 'One, just quoted one of my favorite scenes from one of my favorite movies... Proud of your taper fight, I know you'll pull it off well, you're doing great on the hips and on removing narcotics from your life.

The Hubs sounds happy and so do you.

[Luanna]

Hi 2fer,
Glad to hear that you are tapering off the opiates. My pain management doc tells me that he uses something called suboxone to help taper people off but don't know how it helps or why. http://www.suboxone.com/

He also uses a Butrans patch for some patients to get them off the other opiates and then taper it off as it is supposedly a first derivative and non addicting with an easy taper. I don't know much about it but thought I'd mention those two things just in case they might be something that would help your taper flow more smoothly and easily.

I've starting puttering out in the garden already (in the snow) just cause it feels so good to be out there digging and planting things. This year I'm doing herbs and flowering plants that will attract hummingbirds.

Glad to hear that all is going well for you.
Luanna

[Dan L]

Keep celebrating the victories in the battle of the taper, we're all rooting for you.

I can't wait to get into the garden, may have to have my nephew turn the vegetable garden over for me, and finish the winter cleanup before I'm off crutches, but then have plans to move/divide perennials, plant new beds with the home-grown perennials, and overhaul some beds as well.

Dan

[Two4One]

Friday,  March 09, 2012  7:05am

Thursday
Sleep     10pm to 1am (3 Hrs) + 2:30am to 5:30am (2 Hrs) = Six Hours

Who doesn't like to free associate?  Alright, you can step out of the room now.  If you do enjoy one tangent leading to another, then another, why, you're on the right thread! ;)

This morning at 8:30am is my first of the new Land PT regiment with K'y up in The Gym.  From now on, weight lifting is back in my life full time!  Oh God/Universe/Good Luck/Lord/Serendipity, Thank you! 

OK, hold on a second, I'm going to get that much needed 2nd cup of coffee....lifting seems to me to be an apt metaphor for what Surface Hippy does for us until we can go where we want to.1
   
It's a long, long road
From which there is no return
While we're on the way to there
Why not share
And the load
Doesn't weigh me down at all
He ain't heavy, he's my brother 2


1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7movKfyTBII Men Without Hats - Safety Dance

2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqbCHu3m-dI THE HOLLiES - He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother
______________________________________________________________

[hernanu]

You're starting to fly 'One ... great to see you soar.

[Two4One]

Monday, March 12, 2012 7am

Sunday
Sleep     11pm to 6am = 7 Hours of Sleep!  Yay!

             (I slept pretty much straight through except the dog kept going from my room to Hubs',
             and then Boo would do the roaming between two beds all over again!  Note to self: Keep
             my damn door shut!) 

             That's not too shabby at all, considering I dropped the 16 mg Dilaudid down to 12mg yesterday. 

Withdrawal Symptoms

- Hot Flashes with sweat dripping off my clothes, all the time, followed by cold chills, again, all the time

- Woke up this morning like a normal person complaining to Hubs my middle and lower back and both
  knees are killing me!  I Laughed when I told Hubs this, and he says "Welcome back to the Real World,
  Baby!"  Hubs did say that after a steaming cup or two of coffee that his aches and pains dissipated quite a bit.

- My morning dose of 4mg Dilaudid, with a 7.5 mg Vicodin chaser, is slooowwly starting to kick in, but
  the coffee tastes great and is working right away!

- The cool 8) thing about this second day of another drop is all those aches & pains didn't include my hips!

- Yep.  My hips felt great when my feet hit the floor at 6am!!  Neither hip's pain even registered on the pain
  scale.  My Dad was right when I'd come crying to him after stubbing my toe or something, and he'd give me
  a sharp slap or a jab, laugh when my tears stopped flowing from astonishment, and say, "Now your toe
  doesn't hurt anymore!"  My natural 51 year old Vintage Fox1 body was 'talking' to me this morning and
  completely distracted me from noticing my hips at all!!!!!! 

- THIS MORNING was my first morning since August 2009 that my hips felt normal!  OMG!  I'm so grateful!


1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5bp_eCmbqU The Doors - Twentieth Century Fox (Subtítulado en español)

[Two4One]

Hey Hippies!

Nanu, I love me some old movies, from 'Nosferatu' and 'The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari', and I also adore the modern cinema, with some major faves ranging from the sublime 'Atlantic City' to the Australian noir 'Animal Kingdom'.  As a fellow film buff, do you have any recommendations off the beaten path I may not have seen?  Gotta keep those late night hours filled ya know.

Luanna, are you doing alright with Suboxine?  http://www.medhelp.org/forums/search/77?utf8=%26%23x2713%3B&query=suboxin is a truly excellent source for the 411 on Suboxine.

then have plans to move/divide perennials, plant new beds with the home-grown perennials, and overhaul some beds as well.

Dan, that sounds marvelous!  I'm really hoping the Garden Hippies will post photos of their beds overflowing with herbs ;), spices, veggies, and, of course flowers!  I know I'm going to. 

I never used to take photos, but NOW, from Day One of my bilateral resurfacing on December 20th, 2011, I don't want to miss a thing.  (I hate that song, so I'm not posting a link to that piece of dreck.)

To All Hippies, May you enjoy Happy Trails this week,
'One

[Luanna]

Greetings 2fer One,
I haven't used any opiates or suboxone but my pain management doc specializes in suboxone to help people taper off opiates. I was thinking it might be something that could help make your taper easier but I know very little about it. Might not be good at all.

My pain management doc has me use a very small dose of ketamine (nasal spray) made by a compounding pharmacy when needed but it only lasts for a couple of hours. The good thing is that it is not addictive - the bad thing is that it is very short acting. Getting to the point where I only need it very rarely. Yay.....  Very rarely do I even need to take an NSAID.

You'll get there!!! Just thinking there might be ways to make your journey more comfortable?

Luanna

[hernanu]

Nanu, I love me some old movies, from 'Nosferatu' and 'The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari', and I also adore the modern cinema, with some major faves ranging from the sublime 'Atlantic City' to the Australian noir 'Animal Kingdom'.  As a fellow film buff, do you have any recommendations off the beaten path I may not have seen?  Gotta keep those late night hours filled ya know.

Okay, but my favorites are not usual or normal. I have a strange mix of interests...

For the sake of brevity:

• The Misfits - Clark Gable's last movie, Marylin Monroe, Montgomery Clift.
• Love and Death - Woody Allen's hilarious take on War and Peace.
• Better off Dead - The most chaotic of the 80's teen movie comedies.
• On the beach - one of the first and arguably the best post-apocalyptic movie.
• Last Tango in Paris - weird and compelling Brando / Maria Schneider movie.
• The coca cola kid - comedy involving coke (not the dust) and romance... need I say more?
• The Gods must be crazy - Mix a Bushman hero, a coke bottle and a pretty funny quest.

Again - not everyone's cup of tea, but they fill mine.


P.S. - Not promoting coke (since I don't drink soda anymore), just happens to be in my more favorite movies.

[Two4One]

Thanks for the movie Pics!  Seen 'em, except for 'Last Tango' and 'Love and Death'; I'll watch "Love and Death", but I avoid violent or misogynistic type movies like 'Tango' and 'Silence of the Lambs'.  I'm gonna rewatch "The Misfits" and "Better Off Dead" this week though!

"On the Beach", is hands down one of the best movies of all time, subtle and powerful, great story, and fantastic cinematography - what more can you want in a flick?

'One

[Two4One]

Hi Luanna,

I'm so glad you are doing well!  Yay!

Me, well, it's gonna do what it's gonna do as far as withdrawal is concerned; I have no fear, and it's no big thing for me.  I'm posting it because I want to reassure folks who go through a taper and reduce their worry.  On TV and movies, they make getting 'clean' look like a scene out of 'The Exorcist' where Regan's turning green and her head's spinning. Lol.

2fer

[hernanu]

Thanks for the movie Pics!  Seen 'em, except for 'Last Tango' and 'Love and Death'; I'll watch "Love and Death", but I avoid violent or misogynistic type movies like 'Tango' and 'Silence of the Lambs'.  I'm gonna rewatch "The Misfits" and "Better Off Dead" this week though!

"On the Beach", is hands down one of the best movies of all time, subtle and powerful, great story, and fantastic cinematography - what more can you want in a flick?

'One

Agreed on that. I've only watched it and Apocalypse Now twice each since they are disturbing.. off the beaten path definitely though.

Glad to see we are otherwise in sync on the others.

[Two4One]

Wednesday, March 14, 2012 1:33

I'm tapering down Dilaudid again today from 12mg to 6mg daily.  I don't want to dive off all the way, yet, just a little bit.1  Betcha my bod's not gonna like that! :P

My goal is to be done with the Big 'D' way before Easter. 

Wish me Luck, and if anyone has a mind to, would you please offer up any good intentions/well wishes/prayers/muttering under your breath, to the Universe/Lord/Serendipity on my behalf?  I would surely appreciate it.  Please keep me in your thoughts as all of you are in mine.

Amen.

2fer
aka
'One

1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvczLTXqbLY Steve Miller Band - Just A Little Bit

[hernanu]

Keeping you in mind, 'One... Makes for a great Easter, will be rooting for you.

[Two4One]

Thank you, Nanu.

[mslendzion]

Wednesday, March 14, 2012 1:33
Wish me Luck, and if anyone has a mind to, would you please offer up any good intentions/well wishes/prayers/muttering under your breath, to the Universe/Lord/Serendipity on my behalf?  I would surely appreciate it.  Please keep me in your thoughts as all of you are in mine.

You have my luck/intentions/well wishes/prayers and muttering.

[Two4One]

Thank you, mslendzion!