Little White Pills & Neck Braces

My dad was a doctor, my mom a nurse. One of the things I learned growing up is that prescriptions for antibiotics should be taken completely regardless of how one feels to avoid developing treatment resistant infections and medicine resistant bugs. On the other hand prescriptions labeled x pills y times a day "as needed for pain" were to be eliminated as soon as possible to avoid developing dependencies and to get back to a medication free life as soon as possible.

I have three take "as needed" prescriptions. All for pain. I'm taking fewer than x pills and taking them less often than y times per day. But I still can't give up the little buggers and make it through a day. It's a frustration. I'll get to zero-zero I'm sure but sooner would be better than later in my book.

As for the neck brace, that's something I've been wearing since regaining consciousness in the hospital. They even had me shower with it on because of concern over additional damage that might be done to my fractured vertebra if I didn't. Regardless of my determination to follow doctors orders, and I will, I think the brace is a contributing factor to continued consumption of the little white pills. It seems to create some pressure at the back of the head that over the course of the day ends up leading to head and jaw pain and that gets me back to the pills.

My initial blog entry indicated three skull fractures. That was what I was told on the day I left the hospital. It seems that may have been a simplification because apparently skull refers to particular bones in the head. My understanding now is it would be more correct to refer to a single skull fracture, plus a fractured eye socket (right eye), and multiple fractures of the right cheek bone. Don't know if this is better or worse but believe it is more accurate. Doesn't change the amount of pain either.

I've been thinking of posting a picture of my face to go along with the helmet. Let you all see the effect of the impact on my head even after the major impact absorbed by the helmet. The head shot I have is three days after the accident so suspect it maximizes the apparent effect of the impact by giving time for swelling and bruising to become more evident.

Thanks for all the comments and emails received to date.