Thanks, everyone, for all your responses. I thought that morphine, which they gave her in a continuous drip in the hospital, was the big bad guy. I didn't realize that Dilaudid was even more addictive, although I knew people stole for it.

I wouldn't ever have my daughter on morphine again because it made her horribly nauseaus. Even with Gravol being given with it, she still was sick to her tummy most of the time....even after all the throwing up of the blood in her stomache. But Dilaudid is so much more gentle on her system. I have never had to give her a dose of Gravol, and it has never made her feel sick.

Even with the Dilaudid and Naproxen (for inflammation)...and other meds as well....she has been in constant pain except for when she is asleep. But the Dilaudid DOES help. It just seems to wear out after 2 hours, and even though I was told I could give it to her every 2 hours for break-through pain, I've only done that once (and at a lower dose). I just can't imagine giving it to her every 2 hours. I don't want to get her too used to it.

I've tried various combinations....from the lowest dose to the highest dose, from the shortest time to *trying* to get to the longest time. We could only go every 4 hours before she really was in need again, but I've been trying to get her to every 5 hours during the night when she's sleeping. She can't quite make it to 5 hours yet, but ALMOST. We can only go down in dose and up in length of time between doses.....so I think she will wean off it easily. I told her that once this bottle is gone, we may be giving her a different pain med....depending on how she is dealing. If she needs more Dilaudid, then so be it. She is DEFINATELY an anti-drug girl, and most times won't even take a pill for a migraine. She doesn't even realize that these meds she is on now are the BIG ONES (lol)......probably because she's still in pain. But the meds and TIME will help her heal. She's got a little road in front of her still.

I must say that today has been her best day yet. YEAH! She *finally* is not burning hot (she's been a furnace since coming home from the hospital), and she even said when she went to take a nap this afternoon, "It's cold", and then snuggled under the covers. That's a GOOD sign. Her body has been working hard. She also was more alert today, and she didn't need any help getting out of bed or chairs. She still is in pain in many different places, but I have a feeling we're about to reach the 5 hour dosing schedule now. That's good too! I think I may have made her suffer needlessly when she first came home from the hospital because I was scared to be giving her so much, but now I know better. Healing is a process, and pain will dimenish with time. Whatever meds can give her some comfort and restful sleep, USE THEM.

She's still very weak and doesn't have much of an appetite, but she's been drinking a lot of chocolate milk. Lol. Better than just plain water for nutrients! She can feel bones shifting and cracking, but the surgeon said that is normal. Yikes! We see him again on May 2nd, and then another 4 weeks after that. We'll see how she's progressing and if we should continue with the Dilaudid at that time. She'll certainly need some sort of painkiller, but if she's going to return to school in a month, we can't have her falling asleep in class on Dilaudid!! I find Codeine to be very mild, so maybe that is what we'll use at that time.

Again, thanks for ALL your comments. This is a new drug for me to research. I've never even known anybody who needed it. I appreciate everybody's responses. They've helped me a lot.

God bless,
Sandy