Pain Management

Up until now, the torn achilles has not hurt as long as I keep it in the boot and don't do anything with it.  I can sleep.  I can hop around on my good foot.  I can even put some weight on it though it doesn't feel very stable at all.  What I keep reading is that there will be a fair amount of pain post surgery.

From what I am hearing:
1) The nerve block will wear off somewhere from 12-18 hours post surgery.  Up until then, the foot should be relatively numb.
2) Then, it is a race to "stay ahead" of the pain.  With my 2 ACL surgeries, the pain wasn't really that bad from what I remember.  The first operation was more invasive and I woke up hooked to a morphine machine.  I was scared to death of using it though even though the nurses were very assertive that I should or I would be sorry. I didn't use it and was fine.  It wasnt until I got home that there was some pain and I took 1 percocet (crushed up in apple sauce because I was/am a big baby with pills).  After that though, everything progressed as normal.  I am hoping for a similar experience.  I know there will be pain at first but once again, having a plan to deal with it is very empowering.

Here is my doctor's pain management schedule:
Arrive home: NSID (Aleve/Advil)
+6 Hours: Narcotic (Vicodin, percocet, etc.)
+8 Hours: NSID (Aleve/Advil)
+10 Hours: Narcotic (Vicodin, percocet, etc.)
+14 Hours: Narcotic (Vicodin, percocet, etc.)
+16 Hours: NSID (Aleve/Advil)
+18 Hours: Narcotic (Vicodin, percocet, etc.)
+22 Hours: Narcotic (Vicodin, percocet, etc.)
+24 Hours: NSID (Aleve/Advil)

After 24 hours, it is best to wean off the narcotics and manage the pain through the Aleve/Advil and maybe even Tylenol.  He says that Tylenol is already in the narcotic so can't take it at the same time.

Since I don't take any of this stuff but maybe once or twice a year (the regular stuff...  not the pain killers), I am hoping it has a pretty good effect on me.  I also need to make sure I hide the pain killers because I don't want Ryan Leaf or some of my more shady family members walking away with any of it.  Definitely conscious of the addictive nature of these drugs and of my genes which (from looking at some of my extended family) appear to enjoy addiction.

Maybe on the first day, I will watch Trainspotting while I enjoy my first real use of opiates.