For the record, its not any easier to get pain meds in Belgium. I just had my tonsils out at the end of November (which let me tell you really truly sucks as an adult). I have a reasonable pain tolerance, but holy hell was there pain for about 2 weeks. Know what I got for pain? Paracetamol with codeine twice a day, with ibuprofen in between. It was ridiculous. Beforehand, I'd assumed I'd get reasonable pain meds, and worried the pain meds would make me too wonky to take care of my kid. Afterward, I worried my kid would be permanently scarred by watching me cry every time I had to force down some yogurt for 2 weeks. She may have been. She still mentions it every couple of days.

IIRC, her doctor contacted a couple of infusion centers and they basically said nope, no way, we're not doing narcotics infusions. It seems like he possibly knew the ER was a shit plan, but nobody else wanted to deal with the infusions at all.

When I got dental work done, I got enough stuff that I...could have made my small-business dreams come true. I still have it, because I don't take pills, and because drug customers really don't appreciate "Have a Nice Day!" receipts and such.

Thanks, JZ. I couldn't remember those details, but it just shouldn't be that way.

This seems like a really good time for me thank you, Suzii (when you see this), for giving me Dr Baker's info however many years ago. She's a good one and has never so much as blinked twice when I've asked for anything. She even called in additional pain meds for me when the jerk endodontist only gave me basically Tylenol for dry socket.

We all need to give ourselves a break. This is home and safe. Everything is ok here.

Just on Monday (Jesus, that was a long time ago), we had a thing at work commemorating the Haiti earthquake, and someone said that people in the office then were very gentle with one another, because everything was so hard. I say yes, and also be gentle to ourselves.

Had a pissy customer who ended the call with "I see you're having a user conference next month. Who do I talk to so I can be a guest speaker and tell everyone just how wonderful your company is?" I cheerfully told him he could find contact information on our website.

When I was in the hospital after having my appendix removed, the nurse on shift in the morning wouldn't give me the prescribed painkiller. I spent most of the day - after having an organ removed - in pain. Couldn't get the prescription filled at the hospital pharmacy, so I had to get a cab, go to my usual drug store, wait while they filled it, and then catch another cab home.

I had the same thing happen after my C-section, Toddson. One of the lovely nurses actually said to me, when I asked for my prescribed pain meds, "You need to toughen up. You're a mother now." WTF ever.

After my d&c I had to go to the pharmacy myself rather than send TCG because I needed to show my license for the perscription pain meds.