My apologies for not replying sooner.
I am detoxing off morphine/oxycodone/Fentanyl/Demerol and other narcotics the doctors have prescribed. I did not go into details simply because it might sound like a pity party.
I took my last morphine July 19th and .......... I am not sure what to say. Avinza's side effects have damaged major organs and while I don't mind telling people what is going on, some of it is gross. I even quit telling my wonderful wife about it because she is too stressed as it is. But I have life threatening lung problems, kidney problems, urinary tract problems, colon problems, mental problems (my brain does not work like it used to...must be a joke in there somewhere), my CNS is malfunctioning and a few
other things. My lower back is already hurting like it used to. Funny thing is, I know I can't lift things like I used to, but when I needed to put two 8D batteries in our boat, I got mad and the adrenalin over came the pain. I lifted them three times and it was only possible because I got mad at my condition ... adrenalin kicked in and I could do it. Sounds silly now, but sometimes you do what you have to do and pay the "price" later. I know several of you would have helped us, but I hate to bother you.
Opiates can relieve pain and they are wonderful in that respect. But every one of us will react differently. When they did the Oral Surgery on April 10, 2008 (cut the roof of my mouth off and sewed it to my gums - - I drank drano when I was 3 yr old) my opiate intake (with my Pain Med doctors approval) went up to around 450 to 500mg of morphine a day for over a month. My body rebelled and I knew I could not keep up with the Tolly 44 any longer. Brendan Schmidt did the survey and it was his typical high quality. I like and respect him very much, and we have corrected all but a couple of things...like the shaft brush replacement.
I am not proud to say I dumped the Tolly sale on my wife, but I had no choice emotionally or physically. Seeing her stress levels I had to "suck it up" and go back to the boat.
My plan last week was to add water to the batteries and replace the shaft brush. After
putting water in the batteries I fell asleep. She had to drive me home. Part of this is detoxing and we all know that is a battle in itself. I love you guys/gals and if the Lord would fix me right now, we would love to keep the Tolly. Heck, we even named my Service/Medic Alert Dog "Tolly". BTW, she does not leave my side when Chris is gone.
As I think I told you, CCHS can be fatal. Tolly has woke me up at least 4 times now when I fall asleep in a chair. If I am on the ventilator, she lays next to me ... watching me.
She alerted Chris at the boat when I quit breathing. It took them about a half hour to wake me, and that required continuous flow of oxygen. Last week it took her 40 minutes to wake me up... the doctors don't know why.
Guess that sums it up. We have had the Tolly out... 3 times I think since I got so sick
in the fall of 2004. We are hoping to get a smaller boat that Chris can drive if I get sick. Like a 25 ft C-Dory. Trailerable. Maybe in a few months we can actually meet somewhere and let Dave Bar-B-Q some burgers for us.

Thanks for all the kind words.