Back From Camping

Ah, the great outdoors. Camping in the fresh air, smores over a campfire, the sound of a rushing river. It all adds up to a good time. I wondered how I would do, with the nerve pain and all. I wondered if I would over exert myself; mis-step on a slippery rock; lift something too heavy. But I didn't. I was careful, but not overly. It wasn't like a gave a whole lot of thought to my PVPs. It was one of those times when I actually felt normal.

The only time I was reminded of my pain was when I laid down to sleep at night. I squeezed into my "mummy" styled sleeping bag, on our Coleman air mattresses. I tried to get comfortable, but I didn't bring a pillow to place between my knees. So I slept fairly uncomfortably. Woke up a lot. Had to pee like a racehorse in the middle of the night (but it was too cold to get out of the tent). But once 6 am hit and I was able to get up, go to the bathroom and start my second roaring fire of the camping trip, I was back in normal mode. Didn't give my pain a second thought.

We had a good mix of walking, standing, and sitting. It seems like when those three activities are intermingled a lot, then my pain is substantially lessened. Too much of one though and the whole balance gets messed up. Once I get done blogging, I'm going to hit the hay and get a good night's sleep (Lord willing) to make up for last night. But I'll have my pillow all set up.

Still taking the vitamin and feeling my energy level staying high along with my mental sharpness. Praying a lot. In fact, my family and I had a great little Sunday service around the campfire this morning. It was awsome. My son gave the opening pray, my daughter led us in a song, I read about David escaping from Saul and my wife closed us in prayer. Just a neat, neat time - best part of the trip to be sure.

No pain to report today - thank you Jesus. Hoping for more of the same this week.

Good Cycle On Its Way, I Hope

I hope I'm on the upswing now. I had my bad week or so and am ready for a good couple of weeks. But there is no predicting exactly what will take place. Who is to say the good cycle will only last a day or so. I hope I can have several days in a row of good days because we're about to go overnite camping. Our first time and I'd hate to be laid up with nerve pain the entire time. I'd like this experience to be a good one for the kids, you know. I don't want them worrying about their dad's "boo-boo" pain.

Yesterday was one of those days when I was feeling so good, that I kind of over did it. And by over doing it, I mean I sat at the computer a little too long. I'm sure I'll be paying for it today. I've already had a couple of twinges, thankfully, nothing too painful yet. But the apprehension I feel isn't very settling, if you know what I mean.

I've been very prayerful these last couple of weeks. That always gives me peace and hope. I've also been taking vitamins. I don't think they're helping a ton, but I do feel better since taking them. More like an overall feeling of more energy I guess. My mind seems sharper and I have more zip in my step.

I guess this is all I wanted to say today. I'll be back after our camping weekend to let you know how it went. I will be taking my tylenol with me just in case. Take care and until next time, may God bless you.

Good to Talk With the Wife

My wife and I had a nice little talk about where I am these days, last night. It was just one of those nice talks that you get with your wife every so often that reconnects you. Even though I wasn't enjoying the subject matter, vasectomy reversal pain, it was nice to know she is interested in how I feel. So check mark last night as a good night.

I'm still waiting for the other foot to drop, but it hasn't yet. So, I will stop waiting for the nasty monster to come out of the closet. Instead, I'm going to just keep living life and if the bad cycle comes, then so be it. I don't want to appear cavalier or over-confident. Rather, I think you just can't live your life thinking something bad is going to happen, because guess what, it probably will. But if it doesn't, then you've wasted all that time worrying. These are tough lessons for me, because I am by my very nature, a worry-wart. I'm not proud of it, mind you.

So, I'm going to go buy some camping gear and plan our camping trip, regardless of where the pain is. Then if it comes, I can deal with it then, otherwise, I'll just try to enjoy the good days I have.

Regarding pain, I had some dull right inguinal nerve pain when I woke up this morning. Nothing painful yet, it feels more like a pulled muscle. I also just had a wave of pain in my left teste, that was like a racking sensation. It hurt, but only for a second. Again, might just be the power of suggestion as I think about pain. Or it could be this dad-blamed computer chair. Even with an extra pillow on it, I can't stay seated in it for very long.

Back From Camping Weekend

My son and I had a great time camping and fishing. We're very happy that our church was able to put this up as part of their father/son ministry. We basically fished for bass and perch all weekend and mixed in a little s'mores, bonfire, snipe hunt, and the usual stuff that goes with camping.

I did a lot of walking and was surprised that my pain levels were pretty low to non-existent. Until last night, when the nerve pain woke me up out of a peaceful slumber. I don't remember nerve pain waking me up before, so yet another new pain experience to catalog. Then, as I got into the car to make the hour drive home, I had another episode of nerve pain. Both of these pains were on my left side.

Just when I think my left side won't bother me anymore, something like this happens and "pow", the remains of the vasectomy side-effects hit me like a ton of bricks. Someone posted in our group that his post-reversal time seemed like 10-12 months, but it's only been about 8. I can understand his perspective. It seems like my reversal was about 6 months ago, but it was only back in late December (about 3 months ago). I also feel like my vasectomy and subsequent reversal for pain and chronic epididymitis has aged me about 10-15 years.

That might be the lower testosterone levels or it might be because of all the worrying and frustration I've had to endure over the last 5.5 years. I think I have a better handle on what chronic pain people go through, because I've become one. Sometimes it's not always the pain that gets you, but the threat of pain. You're afraid to do stuff because it might result in terrible pain. I was very scared to go on this church campout, for fear of being in a ton of pain afterwards.

So the rest of my day will look like this. Reclining in the chair, walking around the house and fretting about doing anything else that may cause added stress to my already stressed pelvic region. That is the other devastating side effects of vasectomy - the lifestyle changes.

I'll be back tomorrow with another installment of my online post vasectomy side effects journal.