Update on difficult child, the process continues

[trinityroyal]

The good:

difficult child spent most of yesterday afternoon/evening in with the dentist, having reconstructive work down. Surprisingly, there were enough tooth bits and roots left that they were able to save and/or reconstruct all but one tooth. They were also able to check out the damage to his lip and gums, and clean him up a bit better than they were able to manage in the Emergency Room. difficult child's still bruised and battered, but he's no longer missing all his front teeth. Whew!

The bad:

difficult child has spent another day in the hospital. A repeat round of X-rays, CT-scan, MRI, the works. He and husband have been there since about 7:00 this morning, and they're likely to be in for some hours yet.


The ugly:

difficult child has been given some fairly serious (for him) pain medications to take. With his addictive tendencies, not to mention the cocktail of psychiatric medications he's already on, we are very worried about the possibility that he will become dependent on them. The medications in combination with his regular rx's have him pretty zonked too. He's staggering around with that "medicated" walk you see in people outside of phosps.

husband and I have agreed to move difficult child home for now, both so that we can make sure he's okay AND so that we can lock up and dole out the pain medications. May as well take this in hand from the outset rather than letting him have free rein, and trying to detox him later.

Overall, the news is good. No spinal implications, most of his teeth repaired and he's scheduled for an implant or bridge work as soon as his mouth heals a bit more. He thinks his stitches are cool, and the scar will be even cooler.

But now that the shock has worn off, the pain had really set in. Poor lad.

Tyrantina has been drawing difficult child pictures to cheer him up. Using her "special green marker" since green is difficult child's favourite colour. At the rate she's going, he will have enough to wallpaper his flat.

 

[DaisyFace]

Oh dear!

Just praying for a speedy recovery (for all of your sakes!)

 

[helpangel]

Glad they can save most of his smile, it sounds like he's lucky to be alive. Rattling the beads for you all.
Nancy

 

[DammitJanet]

Trin....I wouldnt worry to much about addiction in the short term because people who are in real pain have a much lower likelihood of becoming addicted to them. As you know I have been on long term medications for years and I am not addicted. If I had to stop tomorrow I could do it but I would be in pain. The worst thing that might happen is some tummy distress for a day or two.

I would also hope they are giving him pain medications meant for acute pain and not chronic pain. Nothing chaps me off more than to hear that doctors are giving long term pain medications for a short term problem.

On to other things...I am very glad to hear that his mouth is going to be okay. Hugs to all.

 

[trinityroyal]

Thanks Skotti. That does make me feel more comfortable about giving difficult child pain medications.

My overall philosophy is "Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get you." so I tend to be pretty jumpy about such things. We will give them to him as required, but I"m glad he's here so we can keep an eye on him. And I'm just glad he's home.

 

[DammitJanet]

I can completely understand your worry. My oldest has had to take pain medications on a very limited basis and he never even finishes the bottles.

Also odd as it may seem, back when I had my hysterectomy they gave me a boatload of percocets even though I was already on a long acting pain medication twice a day. I had no issue not taking more than I needed. Though let me tell you, if you dont keep ahead of the pain it is twice as hard to get it under control. Stupid me thought I was superwoman when I had my knees scoped and thought my long acting medications would handle the pain...after all the knee was numb! I didnt take the short acting pain medications when I got home before going to sleep and I woke up in the middle of the night thinking my knee was exploding. It took me about 8 hours to get the pain back under control. Taught me!

I hope your difficult child is feeling a little better today but remember to take medications at the time said instead of waiting until he is really miserable. He will take less of them and get better faster.

 

[susiestar]

Given that he has shown to have addictive tendencies, it is good to dole them out to him rather than to let him handle them on his own. Skotti is right about the risk of addiction being lower because he is in real pain, BUT if he takes too much it can trigger problems. There are more problems with stopping pain medications after long term use than a bit of tummy trouble because physical dependency happens to those of us who take them long term. It is very different than addiction though because that is more psychological and compounds the physical dependency issues.

RIght now the big problems with letting him have control of the medications are first the spaced out/zonked bit that comes with combining them with his other medications. It would be VERY easy and is incredibly common for someone to take more than they are supposed to and even to overdose because they hurt so they take the medications and then they are zonked/spacy/whatever you call it and they forgot they took a dose already so they take another dose, or two or three. If they don't end up killing themselves with an OD simply because they have no clue when or how many doses they have taken, then they end up with a high they may really like. I know a few people who came very very close to dying because they took so many doses and when they ran out their bodies totally freaked out. The overdose wasn't always the problem but coming down from such high doses resulted in major problems that could have easily killed them.

The other risk with this is that they don't take the medications when they are supposed to because they are asleep or not paying attention and then the pain gets ahead of them and they take a dose, and thne another and another because it is so overwhelming and they just want the pain to stop. It contributes to the problems I listed above, and can get ugly.

By taking control of his medications, and making sure they are taken as rx'd, you cut his risk of addiction HUGELY. If he is not getting adequate pain control, contact his doctor ASAP because pain does odd things to the brain. Pain is nature's way of telling you something is seriously wrong. If you don't treat it, the body reacts to the pain to a greater degree, screaming louder that you need to stop it or fix it or whatever to make the pain stop. You can get stuck in a cycle where the body will over react to even very minor pain because the brain htinks you will never respond to make the pain stop before it is hideous, so it makes the little pains seem like huge screaming agony. This is REAL pain, and it can be hard to convince your body to not over-react to the pain. Letting the pain go after something like this is a wonderful way to get trapped in a cycle that is tough to end.

I hope he feels better soon. As he heals it may be helpful to try lidoderm patches. They are topical patchs with lidocaine and they can be very helpful. they are not at all addictive and do not give any high. They just help with pain in whatever area you use them.

 

[LittleDudesMom]

I think you and husband are doing the right thing by bringing back in to the nest to "help" out until he's ready to move forward after he is medically cleared.

*Sharon

 

[DammitJanet]

Oh I agree totally with you doling them out. Like Susie said it is easy to forget when you last took your dose. Thats why I have an alarm on my phone. Pain does do strange things to people. I have a knee we cant get under control and its killing me. I dont want to up my pain medications because it is only one part of my body.

I also think you are doing the right thing bringing him back home. We are doing that with my youngest since they fired him from his job and I feel we simply have to get his physical things under control. He and I have let them go on too long. He doesnt want to admit he is not able to work but for right now, he is going to have to listen to me.

 

[trinityroyal]

Thanks everyone. It really helps to know that my paranoia in this case is reasonable rather than over-reacting.

difficult child is healing remarkably well. The road rash is clearing up more and more each day, especially on his face. difficult child no longer looks like he came in 3rd in an axe fight. Now he just looks a bit bruised and scraped up. And he's becoming more insufferable with each passing day that he's here. I've always noticed that patients starts to get grumpy and demanding, it's a sure sign that they're on the mend.

Susie, thanks for mentioning the lidoderm patches. I'm going to look into those, as they might be a better alternative for difficult child and pain management overall. He's been taking his medications (psychiatric, pain and antibiotics) properly and on schedule only because husband has been keeping hold of the medications, and staring him down whenever he takes them. No "cheeking" them and saving for later, or throwing away, or any of the normal nonsense he usually gets up to. Aside from the post-injury PITA, he's actually been a real treat to be around, now that he's fully and properly medicated.

He's got more doctor and dental junk to do this week, and with luck after that he can just get on with the business of healing and getting back to "normal".

 

[Liahona]

He is a luck guy to have you and husband to help take care of him. Glad he is on the mend.