The Male Health Scale

Being a male and having a broken butt for almost two decades, I've determined a method for gauging how well I'm feeling:  How often do I get to pee standing up?  Even when I was sick in college, we would celebrate a standing urination as it would appear only once, maybe twice a semester.  [I have a feeling being a little "out of our minds", we tended to celebrate odd things.]   Since having step one surgery last year, it has become rare, but not unheard of.  Over the course of the last few months, muscle control has definitely increased for me to sometimes separate the two; although, dealing with the pain and loose movements, it's been tough over the last few weeks.

The double dose of steroids has definitely helped this week.  The pain no longer appears in the afternoon and there's only little discomfort around dinner time as things get active while I eat.  The mornings have been better as well with being able to delay my first movement until almost lunch and enjoy standing morning relief.  As expected, the cortisone seems to be working, but there's also the concern that it's just masking what is really wrong.  As a friend of mine put it, "Football players can go out and play with a broken foot on cortisone shots."  I'm not willing to prove his theory, but I tend to agree it's a valid comparison without the pads, contact, and ridiculous paychecks.

The edema is starting to set in slightly again, most notably in my face.  No cankles yet, but the wedding ring came off yesterday just in case.  As noted by the time of the post, sleep is also starting to work it's way out of my system as well, similar to last time.  I've gotten used to having to take multiple enemas a day, but not sleeping is something even for this insomniac that is starting to take it's toll on my psyche.  If I had to swap in not sleeping for being rid of pain, I'll take that as a step in the right direction.

Mood swings are in full effect as well, and with the full moon, it seems like the whole house is cycling with me.  That makes for a very volatile combination and some very frazzled nerves.  If there is anything that I've learned over the last few years, it is to not forget your caregivers feelings.  They may not be going through the same aches and pains as you are, but they are still heavily emotionally invested into your well being.  If you aren't doing well, neither are they.  They tend not to complain about it, but they are still feeling it.  Take the time to appreciate and acknowledge your caregivers:  No matter how bad it is now, it would be a helluva lot worse without them.