it's only been five days since my amputation

[Daniel]

well it's been five days since my amputation , and here I am at home in .

A state of amazement, I virtually have no pain, just the sutures pains ,

I have two occurrences of phantom pain. The day after the surgery.

I told myself that this was not real to him and to ignore it .

Even the phantom pain. I had was only like wiggling your toes,

it wasn't truly a pain.

I feel very blessed that this is all the pain of that. I keep expecting.

To have a real severe pain, but it has never come.

I wish to other people could be so lucky as I am,

phantom pain is all in your head and you have to talk to yourself and tell yourself it doesn't exist.

I hope others can be so lucky as to have no more pain than I have.

Tonight I'm going to a gala event, in my wheelchair. And the way I feel right now. It's going to be fine. I hope all new amputees have it so easy.

As I am having, thanks all and have a beautiful weekend.

Dastardly Dan

[snowyh]

Well, Dastardly, I'm happy to hear you are doing so well after your surgery. I do take issue with your comment, "phantom pain is all in your head and you have to talk to yourself and tell yourself it doesn't exist," however. I agree that it's all in your head, but it most definitely DOES exist, and it can be worse than the kind that originates elsewhere in the body. And because of its origins, it has befuddled many a doctor enlisted to treat it--making it that much more frustrating to deal with. Wishing you continued success in your recovery.

Helen

[allenuk]

Dan:

delighted that you're doing well, and in all probability the absence of phantom pains at this stage is a good omen for the future.

But as Helen says, I'm afraid they ain't all in the mind. Wish they were. I've known people whose lives have been blighted, almost ruined, by constant phantom pains in limbs that they can't even rub. All they get from the medics are pills, and then stronger pills. No fun.

Mind over matter does work to an extent. (I know a Buddhist with raging tinnitus who says he meditates 'between the sounds'. Remarkable).

If you can control the small amount of phantoms you have with your mind, good for you. Develop the technique by all means, and then tell the rest of us how to do it!

(I've been fairly lucky with phantoms, partly due to my insistence on certain types of anaesthetic procedures being followed for the operation, which I will share with anyone faced with amputation at the drop of a hat...)

Good wishes to you Daniel, and I hope that even after the morphine wears off you are still up there in the clouds.


Allen.