Monday, August 12, 2019

I Need a Hand to Help Build Up Some Kind of Hope Inside of Me


I have been carrying my pain fairly well for the past few months.  That does not really mean it hurts any less that my daughter died, but it does mean I that I know I can survive it and have been able to continue living life while carrying her.  It means that there are really hard days, especially around certain dates, but they don’t have to be hard months, they can just be hard days.  It means I can cry and miss her and be angry she is gone, but also be grateful to be Mira’s mom and find joy in my life. It means I can feel full of hurt and pain some days, but know it won’t kill me, and better days will come. I had been doing fairly well.

Then August 2 happened.  About a week and a half ago, I had foot surgery.   I have been being treated for pain in my foot being caused by an extra bone that shouldn’t be there since the beginning of February, and with no other treatment options, I agreed to surgery.  The surgery itself went well, no complications and I am healing as expected.  The pain was terrible in the beginning but started improving after only a few days.  My mental health on the other has taken a hard hit.  This is not something that people often talk about, but problems with depression or anxiety after surgery, especially when general anesthesia and opioids are used are, not uncommon.  Add in a diagnosis of PTSD and history of anxiety, and I was certainly high risk for postoperative depression. 
I have been wanting to take the time to write about this, because I know writing helps me.  But also, because I hope to spread some more awareness with this post.  I am always looking to spread awareness of infant loss and the grieving process with my posts, but with this one, I also ask you to think about how triggering situations affect anyone with PTSD, no matter what trauma lead to the diagnosis.  And I ask you to be aware of the level of anxiety and depression that can occur after receiving anesthesia and/or certain pain medications.  These are things we just don’t speak about enough.