2 weeks Post-Op

I am not going to sugar coat it, we've had a rough 2 weeks since surgery, but we seem to have reached a turning point this past weekend. We've had some pretty rough nights. Sleepless nights. We'd put Jesse to bed for the night around 8:30 (his normal bed time), then he would wake between 11:30 and midnight and think he was waking from a nap. So he would stay up for the next 3-4 hours. Paul would help as much as he could, but even if he was with Paul and crying, I could not get any sleep. I stopped giving him Tylenol 3 (tylenol with codeine) during the day on Monday and Wednesday night was his last dose before bed. By Friday I was at wits end and called Jesse's surgeons office and told them what we were going through. I was literally losing my mind from lack of sleep. I would only get to sleep from 10 or 10:30-12, then again from 3:30-6:30 or 7. That's an average of less than 5 hours a night. Yes, I've had insomnia my whole life, but being up for 3-4 hours in the middle of the night will kick your ass. The surgeons office told me that this is common. The anesthesia and narcotics can linger in the body for several weeks after surgery and they will cause sleeplessness. Plus just the surgery itself can and will cause a disruption in sleep habits and the codeine causes constipation. They told me to give it time, he should return back to normal soon. And he did. Friday night I put him down at the normal time with some plain generic dye free Tylenol. I switched to the dye free at the advise of a friend. I also gave him a small amount of Benedryl (also dye free) and started alternating with Motrin (dye free). WOW, what a difference. Friday night he slept a few hours and was up, took a bottle and some Motrin then went to bed. A few hours later, same thing, and again one more time. I was thankful that he was at least going back to bed. Saturday night went even better, he only woke up once around 3am, took a bottle and some Motrin and went back to bed. This has been the pattern since then, but this is a pattern I can handle. Yesterday he only had the Tylenol once during the day and then before bed. Paul's aunt was with him and she said it didn't seem like he needed it so she didn't give it to him after his morning dose. I think we've reached a turning point. The road to recovery seems a little brighter now. Unfortunately Paul's back on bedrest. We need to get him on the bighter road too.