Much has changed in our lives over that last two years. Travis has retired from the Marine Corps. We moved out of our old apartment into the one that we are living in now. Travis had CyberKnife radiation. Victoria started middle school. We received AMAZING NEWS that Travis’ pesky Schwannoma tumor succumbed to Dr. Adler’s treatment. NO MORE TUMOR!!!! I started back at work and went back to college.

Travis accepted his dream job at Northrop Grumman. He entered through a wonderful program called Operation Impact. Since retiring from the Marine Corps. Travis has been seeing new doctors. He struggled through Methadone withdrawal and is now 100% METHADONE FREE. He has a prescription for Vicodin to use for breakthrough pain but he has not taken any since June 30th. He has come a long way from his daily doses of 3000mg of Neurontin and 10mg of Methadone.

Our offer was accepted on our first home. (We are in escrow right now.)

Travis came down with Diverticulitis and then suffered from a secondary infection as a result of the antibiotics given to him to treat the Diverticulitis.

So much has happened over the last two years.  Life sure has not been easy but things seem to be turning around.  We are learning to see the glass as half full rather than half empty.  I expect that we will continue to face hurdles but what I have learned is there is nothing that Travis and I cannot accomplish if we put our hearts into it.

Wednesday was day 1 of being Methadone free.  Travis was able to go golfing after his pain management appointment.  Although Travis was a little achy I think that there was still Methadone in his system from the days before.

Thursday was day 2, Travis stayed in bed most of the day.

Friday was day 3, Travis stayed in bed again.  His systems are cold chills, irritability, achnyness, loss of appetite, stomach upset, restless nights, insomnia just to name a few.  Travis did not feel like doing much of anything.  I pushed him to get up and take a shower.  He was not in the move to move but I thought that a long shower may make him feel better.  The shower actually gave him some relief and I think he stayed in the shower until the hot water ran out.

Saturday was day 4, Travis went sailing!  We were invited to join a good friend on her sailboat.  I mentioned it to Travis and he was eager to go.  I was not sure it was such a good idea but if he wanted to try it I was going to support him.  He took to Dramamine to prevent motion sickness as well as his morning dose of Vicodin and Neurontin.  The mix of the 3 medications knocked him out and he took a short nap while we were sailing.  Other than the nap he did pretty well on our 4 hour sailing trip but by the end of the trip he had reached his limit and was ready to go home.  We went home slept again and rested the remainder of the evening.

Sunday was day 5, was pretty much like day 2.  Travis was not feeling well and he stayed in bed most of the day.

Monday was day 6, Travis started the day off in bed and complained of the list of symptoms listed above.  I did some research and find some info online that recommended a cocktail of vitamins and supplements to take to help the detox process.  I made a list of the “ingredients” and we went off to the health food store.  We bought most of what was suggested and it put us back $40, well worth it if it was going to provider Travis some relief.    Once we got back to the store I encourage Travis to play the Wii.  I noticed that when he is up and moving around he seems to feel better than when he lays in bed.  He played Tiger Woods golf for over an hour and seemed to enjoy himself.  That night he started his first round of the supplements.  One that may have worked was the Melatonin.  Travis has complained that he has been unable to sleep.  I gave him the Melatonin and within 30 minutes he was sleeping.  Either his body had enough and he was going to sleep either way or the Melatonin worked.  Regardless, he got better nights sleep.

Tuesday was day 7, this was a great day.  (Travis woke up with the same list of symptoms.) Travis’ cell phone rang at 6:40am.  He did not answer the call; he let it go to voice mail.  I was in the shower and he came to tell me that the early morning call was a long awaited job offer.  Travis had been waiting on this offer for almost 2 months.  This was a nice way to start off the day.  I went to work and later on he called me and mentioned that he had an appointment with a college counselor.  I wanted him to go but I would not have been disappointed with him had he skipped it.  I would have been so easy to use his withdrawal as an excuse to miss the appointment but instead he gathered his strength, drove to the college, and made his appointment with the counselor.  I was so proud of him.  After the appointment he picked up our daughter from school.  Then he rested in bed the remainder of the evening.  He took the Melatonin (along with the rest of the supplements) and fell asleep shortly after.

So far what I have noticed is that although this is a painful process for him, getting out of bed and moving around helps him feels better.  Also making him laugh distracts him from his pain and discomfort.  Laughter is the best medicine!

Now that he is retired ( I have to catch you up with that on a later post) we decided it would be best for him to see a new pain management specialist. Travis decided to try Dr. Moon as he was recommended by our neighbor. Dr. Moon suggested that Travis start tapering off his Neurontin. This began on 5/9/09. Dr. Moon gave Travis some 300mg Neurontin so that he could start weaning himself down with a 600mg dose instead of a 1000mg dose. That was going very well and Travis seemed to tolerate the lesser dose. That was until Travis miscalculated how many Methadone he had left. On Travis’s 5/9/09 appointment he told Dr. Moon that he had enough Methadone to last until his follow up appointment on 5/20/09. Well Travis made an error counting the pills and he was short. So Travis cut his Methadone doses in half and went from taking 10mg daily to taking 5 mg daily. With the Methadone taper, Travis seemed to experience more irritability, stomach upset, and all over achiness.

On 5/20/09, I accompanied Travis to his appointment with Dr. Moon. At this appointment Dr. Moon prescribed 500mg Vicodin to use in place of his Methadone. He also suggested that Travis continue to taper off the Neurontin. He suggested that Travis be completely off the Neurontin by his next appointment which is in 4 weeks. Dr. Moon advised us that there will not be any Withdrawal from the Neurontin but the reason that Travis cannot stop “cold turkey” is because that could cause a seizure. So week by week Travis will be taking less Neurontin until he is completely off.

Travis is having a hard time with the Methadone Withdrawal. He was given the 500mg Vicodin to help him comfortably phase off. Our goal is to get Travis medication free by about 4 weeks from now. At that point Travis’s body will have an opportunity to feel what pain and discomfort is actually occurring naturally. Dr. Moon said that he has some patients who actually feel better off all medications. Once Travis is off all of his medications and Withdrawal free then we will explore other option of pain control.

Until then I will attempt to keep a brief daily diary of his medication consumption and the symptoms that he is feeling on that day. I believe doing this will help Dr. Moon see an accurate picture of what Travis’s has been dealing with and I also think the information will be useful for the website. I will try and update daily, here is what I have so far:

5/21/09
AM- Woke up with a stomach ache. Feels “groggy”, more tingly in face and chin.
1 Pepcid (7:00am)
600mg Neurontin (9:00am)
500mg Vicodin (9:00am)

MID-
600mg Neurontin
500mg Vicodin

PM- Sleepless night
600mg Neurontin
500mg Vicodin