I was running my own business at the time, and found it very hard to work. I turned down new projects, only trying to support my existing clients. Luckily I was able to work from home, but the injury still meant I lost a lot of income and have had to use a significant amount of my savings.
It has been very important to me to help working and not rely on benefits as a friend of mine from college injured his back, he lost touch with his friends, spent all day playing computer games and he will be 40 soon and is still living in his parents attic. It's not been easy, but I am glad I stock with it. I did become isolated (Facebook & the web became my window to the world), work was actually the main thing that got me through this time. I moved to London a couple of years ago, where because of the fantastic public transport (baring the occasional strike) I'm able to get around and not be isolated. I strongly believe if I didn't move that I wouldn't be here now.
You're meant to taper off the medication as there's a large risk of withdrawals. I stopped taking Tramadol dead two weeks after the operation (day I had my stitches out, and started swimming the next). The only noticeable side effect/ withdrawal was a running nose. So believe I can do it again.
I made the mistake of wearing a patch in the sauna (I thought holding a bag of iced water over it would keep it stable). The high dose made me disorientated and may heart beat did go noticeably shallow for a couple of hours afterwards. Not a mistake I will repeat, I'll remove the patch before taking a bath or sauna again.
That's quite alright, I find it annoying that the only time Fentanyl is discussed (Opiates in general) is death and addiction.