I Hate Pain!

It has been the worst day for me. I realized Friday evening that I was going to run out of pain meds over the weekend. I had been taking the prescribed dose but as I counted my pills, I realized it wasn't going to last until Monday. I knew I couldn't call my doctor's office until Monday and that I was going to figure out a solution. I had no idea how hard that was going to be. Darren (my husband) called the U of U hospital first thing in the morning to see who he could talk to. He was given the name of the on call orthopedist and that he would call back. The oncall doctor, Dr. Beckham, called back within a reasonable amount of time but told Darren that it is the hospital's policy that on call physicians are unable to prescribe narcotics. He then said most patients are off pain meds by now and that I should be okay getting by on Tylenol. He said if I really need to, I could cut my oxycontin in half and take it for acute pain, but that we didn't hear that from him. He also told me that if the pain gets really bad that I can go to the emergency room. Nice professional advice. I was so annoyed that he said most patients are off pain meds by now. Hello, I just left the hospital 5 days ago. I don't think so. Not to mention he isn't even familiar with the surgery I had, a periacetabular osteotomy (PAO) which is a much more difficult recovery from hip and knee replacements. Not to downplay the pain involved in those surgeries, but all of the nurses and my doctor have told me this is the case. So I was really annoyed that he was basically telling me I shouldn't need them anymore. What does he know about the pain I am in? So since this was still about 10 a.m., I decided maybe I would be okay. I had about 4 oxycodones left and Tylenol. Well, by about 3:00 p.m. I realize that this is not going to be okay. I am already having much more pain and we need to call him again. I wanted to talk to the doctor myself. So, I call back 3 more times over the next 2 hours and am completely ignored. The hospital staff keeps telling me the doctor will call me back within 20 minutes but he never does. Since Dr. Beckham told me "I could always go to the emergency room", like that's such an easy thing, I call the Urgent Care at my PCP's office. They said they are not allowed to give narcotics after hours and that they wouldn't be able to give them anyway because my doctor is not involved in this surgery at all. Exactly what I thought they would say. Why would they be willing to give out pain meds when they have no idea what my history is? By 5:00 p.m., I am really upset. I call the hospital again and the same guy who has been taking my messages treats me like a drug seeking lowlife who Dr. Beckham will call if he wants to. I tell him to transfer me to the orthopedic floor. I finally think to talk to the charge nurse. By now I can hardly talk because I am crying so hard. I am in pain and I am stressed out. At first she counts the pills I was given and says, "So you should still have 12 pills left right?" "No... if I took the maximum dose of 3 pills a every 3 hours, that is 24 per day. I haven't been taking that many but I still have run out." She said, "Oh, I guess you are right". No kidding, I'm not as dumb as you think I am. She also couldn't believe my urgent care couldn't give me a prescription. I thought that was weird, why should they? So she called Dr. Beckham and said he would call me back within 5 minutes. Yeah right, I've heard that before. So in the meantime, my husband had called a good friend of our family who is a doctor. We weren't able to get a hold of him and I wasn't sure if we would be able to. My 8 year old daughter walked into my room where I was bawling and asked me if I was okay. Then she asked if we should say a prayer. What a sweetheart and what a good example to me. She has so much faith and love. We said a prayer together and I thanked Heavenly Father for such a wonderful daughter you has such faith and I ask that we will be able to get the medicine I need so I will not be in pain and will be at ease. We were both crying and hugging each other. It was a special moment. Within about 30 minutes, our friend called us back and was willing to get me enough meds to last through the weekend. I was so relieved and so thankful for an answer to prayer, and for my beautiful daughter who helps me remember to ask Heavenly Father to help us and to have faith in Him.
A little while after this, Dr. Beckham from the U of U called me back. I was pretty surprised that he called. He tells me that he spoke with the nurse and that he will write me a prescription to come pick up. I say thank you but then ask, "You spoke with my husband earlier today, right...so why the difference? It is nearly impossible for me to have my husband drive an hour to pick up this prescription (it has to be picked up in person..no calling in or faxing), not to mention it has been snowing all day, and it is 6:00 on Saturday night. Also, I didn't say this to him, but what happened to it being against hospital policy? Then I started crying and said you made me stress all day, my pain got a whole lot worse..so why the difference? All he could say was I'm sorry.
So, I'm not sure what to learn from this situation or what I could do to change the outcome the next time. Of course, I will be very meticulous about the number of pills I have/need, especially to last over a holiday or weekend. I understand that this is a real issue with people who have become addicted to this drug and I understand there is a real concern of addiction. But for those of us right out of surgery, there has to be a better option. I mean, heaven forbid they could actually give us a full 2 week prescription to last until our 1st post surgery visit. I think the least advice I would give the hospital would be to spend more time informing your patients about the drugs they are taking, about how difficult it will be to get a refill, how they should have a plan of how to taper off the drug, how much they may or not need to take in the coming 1-2 weeks post surgery which will be significantly different than in the hospital. I was not advised on any of these things. I was just handed a prescription. There definitely is a need for more patient information and advocacy.