For the past 69 days, I’ve been sharing a countdown in coordination with a count up of days.

The countdown is for the first surgery that is planned for this year, a minor procedure to have my bladder nerve stimulator (Interstim) removed. It has been turned off and non-functional since I fell 10 feet onto my back in 2014. Breaking my back also changed how my bladder nerves worked, or didn’t. The symptoms that the nerve stimulator was controlling were no longer an issue.

Having a non-functional implant has increased my anxiety about a possible leaking battery (I’m already dealing with chronic illnesses, I don’t need that as well), and it has prevented me from getting MRI imaging that I’ve needed on my injured left foot.

One of the most common questions I’ve gotten when posting these updates is, “are you going to start using cannabis after your surgery?”

The answer to that is in my post-surgery bag, “Hell yes!”

My pain levels, both physical and mental, have been through the roof these last 69 days. I have been a formal medical user of cannabis for 16 years, and a casual user before then. This is the longest I’ve ever gone without it. And I’m anxious to get my pain back under control again.

The other commonly-asked question has been, “Why so long of a break?”

The reason for me deciding on a 70-day break was due to the research I performed about how cannabis is stored in chronic user’s fat cells. A casual user may be free of the substance in 28 days, but a chronic heavy user, like myself, can still even test positive for the herb 65 days or more out.

To be free of any possible anesthesia side-effects, I chose to go over 70 days after tapering off, before my surgery.

You see, having Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome means that I usually require more anesthesia anyway. If I have cannabis in my system, that can increase my need for anesthesia even more. My diagnosis of asthma makes a large load of anesthesia dangerous for me. So, I chose to eliminate the ONE thing I actually had any control over.

Looking forward to being able to use my only choice of pain control, my dear friend Grandma Cat set me up with her FECO drops in several formulations, to enable me to dose my pain in predictable and reliable modes.

Using her FECO drops, I’ve already put together a few bottles of 10 mg capsules that are full of whole plant sources of THC-CBD-CBG to enable me to also control the amount of inflammation I’m dealing with.

Grandma Cat’s formulations have been my chosen form of medicine for years, and I highly recommend them to anyone looking to use cannabis to control their pain. They are easy to dose and make sure you are getting enough of the best stuff to restore your body to homeostasis.

I am thankful to have a supportive caregiving team helping me throughout this entire process. 

Thanks to the friends who have asked the questions. I appreciate your interest and curiosity.

Update (1 day post surgery):

For those who are wondering:

My surgery yesterday went off fantastically, with zero complications.

Also, the only time any prescription pain meds were required, was in the hospital itself.

In spite of the doctor and pharmacist and nursing staff insisting that I needed an RX, and whom were astonished when I would only take a very minimal RX home with me.

Cannabis is medicine.