I'm Getting Feeling Back In Some Formerly Numb Areas

That's not a good thing. It's resulted in 24 hours a day pain. I've got the meds figured out that allow me to sleep and just barely allow me to work.

Loritabs work during the day. I think I can work while taking those, but I'm not certain of the quality of my work. It used to be just one in the morning and I was good for the day. Now I need another around the middle of the afternoon. Without the pain meds I can't work.

I can't take Loritabs over night. They have a diuretic effect on me. It's OK to drink water all day long and go to the bathroom once an hour, but that doesn't cut it over night. I've got neurontin now (I hadn't heard of them until just now) and they work well over night.

I have to wait until at least the end of September to do anything about the situation. My doc wants to make sure the pain isn't anything left over from shingles before he removes a muscle. The muscle controls lowering my head on the right side. If I lose it, my head will go down and left when I nod and I will be unable to move my chin down and to the right.

I hope I can make it until the end of September. The pain has me actually considering a Social Security disability. That may sound drastic, but I'm not any where near 100% productivity now. It's unfair to an employer to continue taking a paycheck for 50% productivity and I'm afraid that's about where I'm at right now.

I'm right on the borderline of even being able to work. My pain med dose right now just barely gets the pain levels to where I can work. The mental aspect of pain meds is also borderline. If I have to up my dosage, I'm afraid I will be too thick-headed to work effectively.

I've been through a lot, but always had the knowledge that things would get better if I hung in there and just endured whatever was happening to me. Now I'm supposed to be at the point of fully recovered from the treatments and this pops up.

This one is kicking my butt. Even with meds, there's enough ongoing pain that I've completely lost any appetite. I force myself to eat because I know I have to do that.

A lifetime of pain wasn't one of the side effects listed when I was getting counseling before the radiation and chemo started. Throw this in with the inability to taste food properly, no saliva, great difficulty swallowing, permanent sore throat, etc. and I don't know if I would have gone ahead with the treatments. It's to the point where my wife has wondered if she made the right decision when she told the docs not to pull the plug when I had my nearly fatal episode a little over a year ago.