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Uplifting and Hopeful Coming: Tracking meds and health
I’ve gotten the little bastard out, so now just one big hurdle to hit after the catheter comes out and I hope to be of the few guys that stay on here to hopefully spread good news.
Here is one thing I wanted to share regarding pill management. As you know, the hospital is not a place to rest, it’s place for them to pump drugs into you at specific hours of the day and keep you awake and generally annoyed 😉.
Now that I’m home, I do this myself. I’ve always been big into Apple products, and on the watch and phone you have a Health App (mostly the phone that ties into the watch). I mention this because it’s been super helpful to remind me what to take it, when to take it and how much to take it an how may days to take it. I just get a reminder that it’s time to take the Oxycodone (pain) or Oxybutynin (helps you not feel like you have to pee 24/7 as you deal with your new normal). the Stool Softener, The Gas-X, the Tylenol and a few others. Most only are to be used for a few days, some for a week or two.
This ensures I take all the pills I am supposed to without taking too many or too few, for exactly the time I need to be taking them so make sure I progress as pharmaceutically as the doctors intend.
This is a little “hey if you can, this is a great way to keep up on meds”. I have already done this for years for my other daily meds.
Aside from the benefits above, this serves two other purposes. One, you have a log of each time you take anything, which gets asked a lot. Also, as you know, every doctor wants to know your meds and how many mg’s of each, this keeps a super easy list for that. Apple also has a massive database to let you know if any two meds together cause serious or moderate side effects (ie. Oxy + Valium can lead to a coma and death so I never take those together).
Just a bit of a helpful hint for everyone.
I’m going to blog my successes and failures and also post here in case anyone has questions or comments and know I’m available on DM too.
That’s it’s my fellow warriors! Other than dealing with pain and pesky catheters at home, I feel pretty successful and good right now.
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I have a pill-keeper too.
It's Wife 1.0
Can I use this opportunity to pimp the TimerCap.
https://www.timercap.com
It's awesome. A pill bottle with a timer that starts after you open the bottle.
That way, you can tell at a glance how long since you last had a pill - or if you can't remember if you took your last one.
Awesome invention.
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3 ReactionsMy suggestion is to discontinue the Oxycodone as soon as possible.
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4 ReactionsI have two of these. Every Saturday night, I refill one of them. That gives me a lot of warning when a prescription is running low.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09CPMWLMR
I did not need any of the medications. I also felt quite good. A little bit of discomfort trying to roll over in my sleep. Dont over do it. I started feeling so good that I got a little blood from doing a little to much. You want that ureter to heal well.
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2 ReactionsI keep a "Cancer Tracker" spreadsheet. It's got a row for each day of last year and this year. There are rollups that give total counts in various categories. If, for example, my therapist says "how many days did you feel sad last month" I can quickly get the answer. If my sexual health doctor says "What are the quality of your erections?" I can quickly get the answer. Here's what I track:
Meds: one column for each med and vitamin I take, marking it off with an X once it's taken
Appointments: lists any appointments I have, Blood Draw, Oncologist, Cardiologist etc.
Notes: general notes about the day if something unusual happens
Pain Level: 0-10
Exercise: what exercise I did that day
Dog walk: how many miles I walked the dog
Sex: did I have sex and/or masturbation (yes/no)
Erection quality: Good, moderate, weak
Orgasm quality: Good, moderate, weak, none
Sleep quality: Good, Fair, Poor
I'm a data analyst/business writer by trade so the spreadsheet is very elaborate and automatically color codes the cells red, yellow or green as well a tab with a whole bunch of pie charts looking at the data in various ways. It sounds like a lot but, other than the initial setup, it only takes about five minutes a day to keep it up to date and it really helps at Dr. appointments.
wow (meant in the nicest and most impressed way...I am a bit of a spreadsheet freak also, but this makes me feel like a beginner).
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1 ReactionAbsolutely Ken! You don’t want to get constipated post - surgery.
Lay off the OXY ASAP. Take extra strength Tylenol. All the stool softeners in the world won’t help opioid induced constipation.
If you strain on the toilet you will f*** yourself royally, like I did and I wasn’t even on pain meds. Needed more surgery to correct the blowout I caused trying to take a crap!
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2 ReactionsI slept in my Lazy Boy until the catheter came out (1 week). Solved the rolling over problem
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1 ReactionFor all that commented about the Oxy, I’m more than aware. I’ve been on a lifetime supply of Oxy forever, as many as I need, and I take 1 or 2 per YEAR. I’m hyper aware of the side effects and the addictive nature of of Oxy so I’m leaning on Tylenol also. I’ll do Oxy on the first 2-3 days, the gas pain (the CO2 pumped in that rose to my shoulders and chest) is fairly unbearable and that takes the edge off, then I’m off the Oxy unless it becomes impossible to tolerate.
I’m glad everyone has their thing for tracking meds. I’m a total nerd (it’s what I do for a living) so I was just sharing. My Apple Health is also tied into all my doctors offices and hospitals so, literally, the instant they add something to my chart I get notified and it’s in my app. It’s pretty cool stuff.
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