Remembering Past Events: Write It Down!

By sheer accident I was checking my blog today, when up popped a post I had written on August 8, 2014, four weeks after the partial knee replacement of my left knee.  I couldn't believe what I had written.  I remember correctly the positive part of the surgery and recovery, and completely forgot all the negative.  What I wrote 5 years ago, was that the first 10 days went very well, and I was back to the gym and thought everything was going easily.  When I got to week three, I experienced lots of pain, difficulty getting off the Norco, not feeling well, and not sleeping, all the things I am now experiencing.  What a shocker if was for me to read this.

It has been 17 days since my surgery, as I write this blog.  My physical recovery has again been quick.  The physical therapist released me, as my movement and range of motion are all above normal.  My problem is pain.  I want to get off Norco, because it makes me feel bad, no appetite and fuzzy in the head, so I have switched to Aleve and Tylenol PM, as my basic pain relievers.  This time around I have an additional problem, and that is lower back pain on occasion.  It's hard to get rid of, and sometimes the only thing I can do is sit in a straight chair in the kitchen in the middle of the night until it subsides.  Really interrupts my sleep.

So, here's my advice.  If you really want to remember an event, document it either by writing about it or taking a video.  You won't remember it correctly years later.  The mind protects us, I think, from negative experiences and pain, otherwise why would anyone ever have more than one child?  So glad I read this old blog this morning and realized that what I am going through now, is not all that different than what happened 5 years ago.  I will keep on my pain med regimen, and hope, in another 7-10 days that most pain will subside.