My pain doc day was actually May 7th but I had to postpone writing about it for reasons that should seem obvious at the end. After my previous appointment was canceled by the doctor's office, this last one could not have been more...or less...important in the grand scheme. I wanted to document my increasing pain as it spiralled ever upward. I had been worried that I was even starting to exceed my proper dosage of breakthrough pain meds on a regular basis.
Well, circumstances made it so I could not pick those pills I was so worried about without getting a new prescription so I got to see how I handled not having any surplus pills. I did just fine so I was able to go into the appointment without worrying about that. I was, however, very concerned over the pain spiral which continued after a small break.
The pain doc listened to me describe my situation and agreed to keep everything the same for a month while I carried out a plan so secret that I never hinted at it here. I wrote about rewards as the third part in the Trinity of Pain Survival in one of my first entries and mentioned the concert/festival that I attended yesterday as the big reward. Shortly after I wrote that, Melissa and I had several people tell us that we looked beaten down so to speak. Why didn't we get out for more than an evening or a day?
Therefore, Melissa hatched a beautiful plan involving a week-long vacation in Ocean City, Maryland. We belong to a vacation club and have since we got married but we had only used one of our pre-paid weeks in 12 years. This was a waste but the inability to plan ahead had hurt our chances every time. We always chickened out in fear that we didn't have enough money and would lose the week in a cancellation or we'd end up going somewhere on a poverty budget. Melissa's plan avoided those problems beautifully.
Thus, I brought up the advanced concept to my pain doc. We were going to have the most relaxing week that we could manage. We were going to do nothing but eat, drink (beer) and sleep unless the mood struck us. If what I really needed to make my pain improve was relaxation, we would know by the time we got back.
My doctor loved the idea which I'm sure was colored by knowledge of me and how little I drink when I drink. (I don't like the sensation of being drunk because it reminds me of some symptoms.) We spent a little time chatting about details including how excited we were about going. That's a key element of my strategy of rewards. Even a little anticipation adds to the effect because it means you can look forward to something and have a date which will mark one day as something very different.
The reason why I couldn't write about this was that I was leaving my house unattended for more than seven days. I know it's paranoid but you could probably find my address if you chose to waste the time on it. Thus, a thief could have found an unattended house and it would have been an investment for him.
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