April 2017

Notice I didn’t say impatient Lion. He’s been very well-behaved. He asks politely when he needs help, and he’s only repeated a request urgently when he’s really in pain.

The nerve block is done so there’s more pain, although the nerve block insertion spot was giving him some pain itself. Not to mention the fact that he had a nifty little fanny pack to carry around, which got in the way more often than not. So now Lion is on oxycodone alone.

Both drugs had relatively the same effect. He’s tired. He loses time. He’s not quite sure what’s going on around him. All very understandable. He says he can’t imagine why people take oxy recreationally. Also understandable. He doesn’t have an addictive personality so he may not understand that most people on oxy are addicted versus wanting a high. I understand that some people use it recreationally, but I hope it affects them differently than it affects Lion or there are a lot of spaced out, snoozing people out there.

Last night, Lion managed to escape from his sling twice. He woke me up to help get him back in. Since he’s not supposed to be out of the sling at all until tomorrow at the doctor, this was a little concerning. I assume he did no damage or he’d be in a lot more pain.

My other concern is how to get an unstable Lion into the car and to his appointment. Then, of course, I need to get him home. I’m hoping he’ll be a little more aware of his surroundings in the next twenty-four hours.

I guess it’s a good thing he’s sleeping a lot. He may be a little more difficult to deal with if he’s in pain and awake. I know he’s been working hard not to be difficult. He may not be able to help it if he’s in a lot of pain.

Lion has a nerve block for his shoulder. It continuously delivers pain meds, but he also has a “panic button” he can push for extra help. In addition, he has oral pain meds. He was taking only one pill at a time throughout yesterday and last night.

This morning, he took two pills. Woohoo! He was floating. Two pills lasted a lot longer than one pill. I’m not sure it’s supposed to work that way. Lion just wanted to see how two worked versus one. Eventually the nerve block will end and he’ll be on his own with just the pills.

The best news about two pills is that they made Lion sleepier. By bedtime last night, I was way overtired. One pill allowed him to sleep for a few hours at a time. Ergo, I was able to sleep for a few hours at a time. We’re still pretty wiped out. Lion more so than me, of course. He’s sleeping between trips to the bathroom.

One nice thing about helping Lion is that I get to hang onto him while he’s walking unsteadily. This translates to some impromptu butt rubs and kisse on his back and shoulder. Of course, we hold hands when we’re in bed, but I’m taking any opportunity to stay close.

I don’t think we’ll really know how well Lion will do with the pain until the nerve block wears off. That may not be till tomorrow or Sunday. For now, it’s good that he’s sleeping. That’s the best medicine. Monday’s first physical therapy appointment will come soon enough and I’m sure there will be some pain associated with it. He needs to stockpile some healing between now and then.

At 7:30, they took Lion back to the operating room. The surgeon said it will take about two hours. I found the cafeteria and had some breakfast. Lion couldn’t eat this morning and it seemed rude to eat in front of him, so I waited.

They gave me a pager similar to those given at Applebee’s and Red Lobster. They’ll buzz me when the surgery is done. Amazingly, the pager has a reach of the entire hospital plus a few blocks in each direction. I teased Lion that I could run but I couldn’t hide from them.

After I was done eating, I took the circuitous route back to the waiting area to find that Lion’s surgery actually started at 8:10. Is it two hours from 7:30, or two hours from 8:10? No matter. The only thing I’ll be doing is waiting anyway.

Last night I gave Lion another blow job. I edged him a few times. I would have edged him a few more times, but I was a little overzealous and he came. I was hoping to increase his semen output by edging him. It didn’t work, but it’s only been two days since his last orgasm. I wanted to give him a proper send off for his surgery and subsequent I’m-in-too-much-pain-for-sex recovery.

A few hours later, the heat stopped working. No idea why. The breakers were fine. The heat pump, blower, all parts of the system were good, except the thermostat. An emergency heating guy took over an hour to get there and less than a half hour before he showed up, the heat was magically on again.

Lion said it was an omen. I don’t think so. He was just looking for a reason to cancel surgery. Needless to say, we didn’t get a lot of sleep. I’m hoping Lion is sufficiently drugged later so we can snooze more.

Even when he was in the prep room, he was trying to get out of the surgery. Having trouble finding a vein for the IV? I can just leave. Can’t find the supply you’re looking for? I don’t really need the surgery. But once they started with the “feel good” drugs, he was happy. He’d love to stay out of it for at least three weeks. By then the pain should be a lot less. [Mrs. Lion – Lion wants to be sure I clarify that he was kidding about getting out of the surgery today. (I knew it and I’m pretty sure you knew it too.)]

At this point, Lion has been in surgery for a half hour. Twenty-five percent of my waiting is done. Fingers crossed for the next seventy-five percent.