Pills . . .

My specialist gave me some painkillers on Thursday and I started taking them Thursday afternoon. I needed to get off the Aspirin because it is a blood thinner, and needed something stronger than Tylenol.

Well, the new pills worked great! No pain! For about six hours.

Then the nausea started. About ten seconds later the projectile vomiting started.

Ah, just nerves, I thought, so I took another dose at the appropriate time.

More nausea followed immediately by vomiting. After about the third go-round with the vomiting, I started feeling kind of weak, lightheaded, and dizzy. Plus, the pharmacist had warned me that the pills would make me sleepy. They had the opposite effect on me and I was awake most of Thursday night. I got about two hours of sleep, from about 4:30 to 6:30 AM Friday morning.

So Friday morning I check out the medication monograph on the Internet. Side effects: nausea, vomiting, dizziness, faintness, rapid heart beat, sleep disruption and some more side effects that I didn't get. And I really felt lousy Friday. I had to leave work about 11 AM because of the number the drug and the lack of sleep was doing on my brain. Couldn't think, straight or sideways. Felt just bloody awful.

Back on Tylenol 1s. As long as I can get through the next four days, I know I'll be okay because they'll give me really good, zonk-me-out drugs in the hospital. They'll have to. After all, they're gonna rearrange my innards!

After getting home Friday I had a quick one-hour nap then was off to the HSC to see the anaesthesiologist and get checked over for surgery. All is good to go.

-- L