9 days on: A walk to the lake and other post-surgery hijinks

Last night was bad. I went to bed without taking any pain medication, which would be fine at this point, except for Cursed Neck. Any time I lay on my back (the only way I can really sleep right now) the lower left part of my neck starts to hurt like [long string of expletives here]. This happened last night and for multiple hours I just laid there, hoping that maybe my body would exhaust itself and shutdown or something. Instead, I took a Tylenol and a Hydromorphone pill (the opioid that came with the sheet warning of ADDICTION and DEATH) and had Jeff warm up the old neck beanbag thing, which is basically a long cloth tube full of beans that can get toasted up in the microwave. I wore this around the back of my neck, helping to relieve the pain, while also serving as a makeshift brace that elevated the neck. It was getting close to 3 a.m. but it worked, and I actually slept decently for the next six or so hours. I’ll be using the beanbag again tonight, but at regular bedtime.…