[Blairsara]

Fortitude,

Thank you very much. I appreciate your kind words. I'm sorry to hear that you have to have a total knee replacement. I hope you have a fast and as pain free recovery as possible.

Don't feel small! That's the last thing that I want. The one thing that I hope for, from my experience with all of this, is that people will learn from my own experience. That life throws us obstacles and no matter how difficult they seem and how much they suck we will be able to get through them and come out on top. These past 6-7 months have been very difficult and the one thing that got me through it was the phrase "never give up" - never give up that the pain will stop; never give up that there will be a solution; never give up that other people hopefully won't end up with the same problem. I wouldnt wish what I have gone through on my worst enemy.

For pain I was taking immediate release oxy but it didnt do anything. I saw my pain management doctor last week and he put me on time release oxy 10mg 3 times a day, but I'm still in a lot of pain. It seems to work half of the time. I'm going back next week to give him an update. It was either time-release morphine or the time-release oxy. My goal until I have my surgery is to get through these next two months and pass my classes, and I know I won't be pain free but hopefully I wont be at a 9-10 level of pain every day. I'm going to see if I can take the 20mg 3 times a day instead of the 10. Maybe that would help more. I was up last night till 6am because I felt like my right side was going to collapse and the meds didnt do anything.

Again, thanks for your kind words. I truly appreciate them. When are you having surgery on your knee? I hope it helps.

Blair