Diary of a Crohn’s Flare: Post-Surgical Recovery

I’m still recovering from my abscess & fistula surgery (Incision and Drain plus Seton Placement) conducted on Wednesday 10/8.  My pain has been dramatically less than I’ve encountered from any previous surgery.  In fact, the lack of pain from that surgery has been so dramatic that I’ve had to take pain medication for my wound debridement far more frequently than for my far more recent abscess drainage.

The main pains that I suffer now are stinging from my abdominal debridement, stinging from my abscess drainage surgery, and a muscular pain adjacent to 8/11 surgical incision.

That muscular pain is aggravated by my coughing from the fungal pneumonia.  I wake up each morning and spend 20-30 minutes coughing intermittently.  It usually works up some phlegm and I hope this is my body clearing out some of the fungal infection.  I also cough rarely throughout the day so that sore muscle doesn’t get much rest

Also vigorous activity such as cutting up an oak tree with a chainsaw or spending 20 minutes on the elliptical often causes enough discomfort (usually at my abdominal incision but occasionally at my abscess incision) that I require an additional pain pill within an hour of completing that activity.

As far as pain medications go, I’m down to taking 1-2 5/325 Norco pain pills per day and I feel like once I’m permitted to resume taking NSAIDs, I will no longer require these.

I’ve been taking these opiate based medications for so long, that I do not notice taking these pills except that they do help take the edge of stinging and throbbing pain.  They no longer make me drowsy or seem to cause any other negative effect.