Monday, March 21, 2011

Here Comes Your 19th Nervous Breakdown

Ordinarily at this time I'd be hard at work on something substantive. However, I am too distracted and preoccupied with my own worries to manage it. Wednesday's surgery should be a routine affair. Yet, due to the presence other medications already in my bloodstream, medicines I have taken long term to treat existing illnesses, there's a possibility of interaction with the anesthesia. The phrase "surgical complications" in any context makes my blood run cold. In an ideal setting, I'd have been given the ability to taper off of one particularly troublesome medication for at least two full weeks.

The issue with that process, however, is that I am sensitive to titration, and would have gone into severe withdrawal had I stopped that quickly. I only knew about the date of surgery a week ago. Should I ever need to come off of the problematic drug Parnate altogether, it would likely take two months to curb withdrawal symptoms altogether. And there are other potential problems. Should, for example, the painkiller Demerol be accidentally administered, it is highly likely I would die on the operating table. I have done my part in informing the surgeon's assistant, who has then informed the anesthesiologist, but I'm still not feeling very comfortable.

This whole week is going to be touch-and-go. Spaced out on Percocet, my concentration and focus will not be the best for several days. If I can update following surgery, I will, but these will likely not be too detailed. Then there comes the troublesome issue of being able to sit for extended periods of time, or at all. You'll recall the cyst being removed sits on my tailbone. I'm trying to get as much done in the next two days as I can manage. The plan today was to try to get at least one top notch post completed, but that seems to not be in the cards. And, I don't really have anything terribly unique to say about Libya or the anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire. Both are terrible, but there's nothing much I can expound upon beyond the echo chamber.

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