Thursday, February 10, 2022

Personal Update and Future Wish, February 2022

Hi Friends,

Thanks so much to all of you who have reached out recently to check in on me and ask for an update. It means a lot.

My recovery has been up and down. Sometimes, the pain keeps me up at night (such as now), even overwhelming sleeping pills. That's ... sub-optimal. But I'm currently staying off prescription general pain medicine (although there are times...).

I'm still on the top dose of the nerve pain medicine (pregabalin) and the pain / depression drug I've written about before. The near-joy of that initial depression relief last fall has faded. I still appreciate having that boot off my neck, but the remaining physical pain, along with the drugs' side effects and ongoing degenerative osteoarthritis, often make life difficult. 

My facial reconstruction enters its last phase on the 22nd (13 months after the accident), when I get my front teeth ground down and my adult braces put on. These will try to pull my teeth back into some resemblance of order. If everything goes as well as possible, this will be done within a year. The braces and implants are the single most financially draining aspect of the accident (five-figures).

Not to be a downer, and I don't want to burden any of you. I still consider myself fortunate; there is no one's life I envy or covet. I know almost no one else who met their soul mate, let alone had 30 years with them.

After I got back from the dentist yesterday and answered work emails, I was glancing at flights to Europe. That time in 2018 (below) was the last time I felt sustained happiness. I tell myself things can at least be somewhat like that again.












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