my orthopod willingly switched me to vicodin after I complained that percocet
was making me too spacey!  I mean, I couldn't even read music in choir when
taking percoet and I learned to read music before I learned to read words!

I think it's a good idea to check in with your doc though, and hopefully
someone will understand that you need decent pain meds.  Oh, and remember not
to overdo it just bcause you're in the short cast!

whew!  so far, so good.  i'm so relieved you feel better today.    what with
not having been on your enbrel for a month, the recasting and the surgery
itself, geesh your poor body must have been screaming at you.
((((((((carol))))))

good idea to call your doctor and let him know what's been going on and what
you need, and want, to be more comfortable.   ask him to refresh your memory
about what symptoms you need to be aware of, on guard for and alert him to.
sometimes, we forget a detail or two and sometimes, they forget to put a
detail or two on the discharge instructions.

you said your hand/arm was cold last night.  if your hand gets too cold,
carol, keep an eye on your fingers for blueness, which could mean the cast
is too tight somewhere.  otherwise, gently warming the case (like i
mentioned with the towel) will help with cold aches.  remember "gently
warming", not blasting it with heat (like sticking it in front of a blazing
fire in the fireplace), cuz that will be uncomfortable, too, in its outcome.
putting a sweater/fleece or something like that on after you warm the cast
will help.

when you go outside, please remember it is wintertime and that cast will get
much colder and quicker than your skin will.  the cast and the metal have no
vascular system to help regulate their temperatures, like your bones and
muscles do; and that metal is on the outside of your arm bone, where it
doesn't have a lot of tissue around it to help insulate it.  but it does
have the cold cast against it.  so protect it from the cold, hon---cuz once
the metal next to your bone gets just a little colder (like one degree,
even) than the rest of your body, it might painfully resonate with cold like
a high pitched gong ache.  (i had shin/tibia plates and screws that did
that---the outside tibia plate was awful when it got cold, from time to
time.).  you don't want that.

here's hoping your day tomorrow is a good one for you!

kate

Let us  know how it is going with the arm and what the dr says.

I am sorry you are not feeling good either. I hope they give you something
to help  you make it thru all this.

You are still in my thoughts and will be till you get recovered.

Phewwww... Had me worried for a moment. That over do
thing is getting me with my new knee. Sure doesn't hurt
when I am doing XXX but the muscles are not happy.  Ice
still really helps me. Glad things are better.
Duckie