They actually did REALLY good postoperative pain management. Between the nerve blocks for the surgery, and a local anesthetic that they put in the knee joint itself that was intended to last at least a couple of days, I didn't feel enough pain to say until the end of the first week. Then it all wore off and that's when I had to start taking the Oxy.

But it was a really effective strategy, because they want you up and moving around as much as possible as soon as you're awake, both to keep scar adhesions from forming and also to minimize the chances of forming blood clots, and I'm not sure I could have handled that without all that pain control. And they take that blood clot chance REALLY seriously - I'm on a twice daily aspiring regimen that runs 30 days post surgery and have to wear TED stockings for 20 out of every 24 hours until the end of this week.

But pain-wise, I have GOT to think that yours is a lot worse than anything I've gone through. Gut stuff is awful (and I KNOW because I have IBS and I know how much THAT can hurt!) So my heart really goes out to you as you work your way through this.

Have you had the morphine or dilauded before? Have you also had withdrawal issues when it was discontinued? I sure hope not, because that's the LAST thing you need right now!

Keep on keepin' on!