Dr. Anthony Sacramento

Accidentally arched back the smallest amount to put on my Vax’ildan hoodie and the pain that shot across my side felt like 2d8 lightning damage as a level 3 wizard

-Sitting upright is more tolerable
-My transfers are faster and I’m moving faster but still small steps

And as always ask questions. I’m here to help

-Hydrocelectomy has been virtually pain free with the exception of a mild but constant pulling sensation and when needing to be moved for bathroom needs
- Coughing is THE WORST and this hernia repair is so much more painful and the main thing limiting my mobility

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-Starting to feel more general aches in my back & neck from how I’ve been carrying myself, avoiding the pain, & overly bracing. The extra effort on everything is starting to show in my body
-Still no bowel movement. Going to take a stool softener to get things moving before I go to bed

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-Second round of meds at 6:30. Pain has gotten pretty intense and swelling is more obvious
-Definitely a little more loopy and lightheaded with the second round of meds and pain has decreased, but not resolved. Those symptoms resolved after about an hour

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An Insider’s look - Day 1 post-op, evening update:

-Started getting some left abdominal spasms. Getting up and walking a bit alleviated it some
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I choose to fight with an open hand and I believe the world would be better off if that was our fist inclination

Like it or not, we all exist together in this shared adventure of life

Let’s make it one of happiness and acceptance, not hate, greed, and isolation

We MUST be more kind to each other

Support your friends, and then make new friends and support them as well

Support your favorite creators and keep the doors open for everyone

Love and live fiercely

Make trust your default

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@bsky.app can you PLEASE increase your character limit. Please 🙏🏻

- Standing up after being stationary for an extended period of time is awful. I gotta keep myself in motion

I’ll give an evening update around 10pm

And as always ASK YOUR QUESTIONS! That’s literally one of the main purposes for doing this so
please don’t hesitate

- Still no bowel movement
- I’m carrying everything with two hands, no matter how light
- Getting up and moving around more often is BY FAR the most beneficial for my resting pain and pain with transitions

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- Getting up and down from the toilet is a whole ordeal. I Have to go so super slowly and it feels like I’m working really hard and holding my breath. Moving “parts” around is painful and I’m just happy I have a sink and wall nearby that I can use to help lower and lift myself up

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- I’m icing as much as I can, but location of the incisions makes it difficult to ice and get work done although the ice does feel good
- I’m still subconsciously bracing a lot
- I’m also weirdly gassy. This may be from the general anesthesia

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- The hernia repair pain is by far the most painful
- It’s also super painful to place any pressure on hernia repair even when bracing
- Time on feet that I can tolerate is now about 3 minutes

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- After about 2 hours I can say that the oxy doesn’t seem to have done much of anything other than make me a little drowsy. MAYBE pain is a little less, but I’m struggling to say that with any conviction. Luckily, no nausea
- Blowing my nose and coughing are painful
- The coughing REALLY hurts

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An Insider’s look - Day 1 post-op, afternoon update:

- I took my first pill of Oxycodone at 12:10 with food

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…It deprives me of energy, creativity, and mental clarity. It numbs instead of fixes and that’s a bad trade-off. If I wanna do the things I want to, I have to stop doing this. My life, my choice.”

Now it’s your turn: What unhelpful pattern keeps repeating, and what is your responsibility in it?

…Then, I feel shame and guilt over the lost day. I need to find its natural counter and deploy that as my strategy and built-in process. I will reclaim much of my life if I can break this pattern thoroughly.

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…My ADHD doesn’t help, but that’s why I’ve got the meds.

What I hate most about this pattern is how it eats at my whole day. Every time I give in, it throws off my groove, making getting started even harder…

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…I waste far too much time and use scrolling to fill time too often. It doesn’t help with my creativity or stress. It’s just consumerism and advances none of my goals. I bear all the responsibility with this. I need to set timers and catch myself in the sit pit before I get fully sucked in…

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The prompt is next, and if you’d like, please take a look at what I wrote during my writing practice to help you get started?

Prompt: What unhelpful pattern keeps repeating, and what is your responsibility in it?

“Scrolling…

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Time for the 2nd writing session of this week’s theme: One day at a time, one step at a time

An important step is identifying patterns of behavior that no longer serve you. Reclaim your time but adjusting these behaviors, but first you need the awareness that it exists in your day-to-day

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I’ll give an afternoon update once I’ve gotten moving a bit and gotten the meds

This is going to be quite the adventure

And as always ASK YOUR QUESTIONS

- The biggest ADL (activities of daily living) problem is socks. Bending that far forward is super difficult and painful. I have to position myself just right for it to be manageable

Just took Tylenol to help with some of the pain and we’re picking up the pain meds once the pharmacy opens

- I managed 4 consecutive hours of sleep at the end of the night and getting uot of bed then was a really struggle and A LOT MORE pain
- Everything takes several more steps to complete and takes twice as long

An Insider’s look - Day 1 AM post-op:

- I didn’t sleep well. Up almost every hour to use the restroom
- The more I got up, the less difficulty and pain I hand with the process of sliding out of bed, restroom, crawl back into bed

Our brains do this cool thing of down playing pain and softening the edges in memory to help us cope and not retraumatize us every time we think on it

Real, authentic, unfiltered. Please ask your questions

Symptoms Cont.
- Walking done with short steps. Increased pain when standing >2 minutes

One more thing ⬇️⬇️

PLEASE ask questions

The whole point in being so detailed is to help you while I actively go thru it & all the info is fresh & fully real in the moment, not a “remembering” point of view

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Symptoms Cont.
- Have to use arms and go SLOW when standing up from a chair or moving in bed
- Constant abdominal muscle guarding/bracing & holding my breath. Have to constantly check in to actively relax
- Standing fully erect mildly painful

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Symptom Cont.
- Bouncing in a cab on New York streets solidly falls under the “not fun” category
- Sitting reclined is better than sitting upright
- Getting up from a reclined position & most definitely from a supine position are really bad

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