I went for a 2km walk early this morning, but it was apparent as soon as I started that trying to stop taking Percocet today may have been a mistake. Before I even got to the end of the street my shins were on fire on my right leg. Strangely I cannot get rid of the pain by stretching as per normal and the pain didn’t get any worse as I went along, then again I am not sure what is worse than excruciating so….
Anyway, the good news is that it was a long walk all in one go and that my pace was up slightly from the last couple of days. I have gone from 26 minutes per km the first time out to around 20 yesterday but today was a lightning quick 17 minutes per km. I suppose it is a good reflection of the progress, not only the increase in exercise time and distance walked but also the increase in pace. I am not sure which of these will become the best indicator of my recovery so for the time being I will continue to report them all. As noted above I have tried to quit the Percocet at this time. I had to take some at 5 this morning to get back to sleep but I am hoping that I will be able to make it through the whole day without them, after all, a day filled with back pain is normal for me. I find that the pills make me foggy, restless and disinterested in almost everything. I remember from last time what a devastating effect it can be trying to come off them cold turkey if you are on them too long and so this time I will try to get away ASAP. I figure if I can come down to 2 a day today and tomorrow and then quit completely for the rest of the week that should be good progress.
Today I am missing my girls compete for the first time in my coaching career. I have never had to miss a competition and it’s killing me not being there. However, I understand fully that missing this day will enable me to be there the rest of the year, a short term sacrifice for long term gain, but the guilt is killing me.
Cat update – He apparently is a little better, and although he is on the road to recovery, it is not clear exactly how far he is going to be able to come back. Apparently he was mere days away from being too far gone so although we are keeping our fingers crossed, we just don’t know.