Done with drugs

I love Vicodin. This is my third surgery with Vicodin's help. It gives me just enough pain relief without severe grogginess. I can be pain-free and still function.

But there's a sure sign for when I should stop taking it. This happened after my appendectomy, my knee surgery, and now my breast cancer surgery.

It's the dreams.

For the first few days, the drugs work really well. Then, for some reason, I start having the craziest dreams you can imagine.

It's like my pain receptors are saying, "Hey, we don't need that much help anymore. Send these drugs to her dream center." And it becomes a psychedelic party!

Last night, I dreamed that was staying in a hotel in Las Vegas with my parents, and this freak show circus came through. All these performers were doing crazy stunts and tricks, and I got totally sucked in.

They beckoned for the viewers to come along with them, so I joined their caravan. They were on giant boats that were rolling along the road until we came to a shallow river, then they all just set afloat. And all of the spectators were scattered out among them.

We finally arrived at this crazy, crooked house. From the outside, the floors looked seriously uneven, like several feet difference between the depth from one side to the other.

And it was the same inside. It was severely uphill or downhill as you walked from one side of the room to the other.

The performers were getting packed up to move on to their next stop, and I realized that I didn't have my shoes. While I was searching for them, I also realized that I didn't have a way to get back to the hotel and my parents.

I went around asking, and someone told me that they provided cars to take people back to the hotels, so I told them to wait for me while I looked for my shoes.

As the big boats got back on the river, I finally decided to just leave without my shoes. But when I got to where the return-to-Vegas cars were supposed to be, they were gone.

I woke up trying to figure out how the heck I was going to get back to where I needed to be.

Crazy, right?

So last night was my last Vicodin. I also have some prescription ibuprofen, so that will be tonight's choice.

I hope saner dreams await me.