I need help...

richls
richls Member Posts: 54
in Colorectal Cancer #1
My wife is diagnosed with what I believe is stage 4 colon cancer. It was discovered when early one morning she had severe pains on her right side. It turned out to be several abnormal growths on her liver that was causing the pain. Now, she is experiencing the same kind of pain on her left side. She can't even lay down it hurts her to much. She won't go to emergency, she is to scared. Is it normal for her to experience this kind of pain? I feel like picking her up and taking her to emergency. I don't have any one I can talk with, what should I do?

Comments

  • joemetz
    joemetz Member Posts: 493
    #2
    complain and don't feel bad about complaining
    I was dx'd with stage IV a year and a week ago... and I never had such pain that your mentioning, but I did have many times when I wouldn't go to the doc's, wouldn't complain, felt like "I can deal with this". But, my wife and several friends who are in the medical side of life all told me "complain about everything and everything and ask for help"

    its hard to get over that point... but once i did, the true recovery and winning the battle began.

    There is a drug for every pain and ache in the body. There is a drug for every reaction or side effect. no one should go in pain these days.

    If I were a doctor, i would most likely prescribe a Fentanyl Patch for your wife.
    Its a great pain reliever which is slow release and keeps he pain at a minimum.
    yes, its an addictive drug and many sites on the internet might scare you about this, but it does relieve pain.

    I think she might be mad at you for the short term... but in the long term she will thank you for this, but I would suggest two options for you right now.

    1. Call the primary doctor right now. And, get their messaging service and have them call you back. Tell them what you told us here online and ask for them to phone in a pain med to the pharmacy right away.

    2. If they tell you that they cannot phone something in unless they see her, then ask them which emergency room to meet you at... TODAY!

    You care so much, and at a time like this... you care so much because you never wish to see her in pain. And, you will do anything and everything to help her. (she'll hate you for an hour, but love you for ever as you take the stand at being the Best Caregiver she could ever dream of having)

    get aggressive with the doctors and make sure they know that you want her pain free so she can concentrate on fighting cancer, not fighting pain.
  • joemetz
    joemetz Member Posts: 493
    #3
    when, what
    when was she dx'd with the stage iv colon cancer?

    have they discussed any surgery or chemo or radiation treatment plans?

    do you understand what they are saying? Do you and do the doctors feel confident in the plan?

    if they are not confident, then have you considered a second opinion from another doctor?

    You might be feeling like... "why should I question the doctors?" but believe me, it is not uncommon to get a second or third opinion. The doctors understand that this should happen and just because you go seek a second opinion does NOT mean that you will never go back to the first.

    there are a LOT of people in this blog site that can help you.
    we all have opinions and ideas... we don't all agree with one another, but that's okay.

    we're all here to help.
  • thxmiker
    thxmiker Member Posts: 1,278 Member
    #4
    Go to your GP Doc for pain
    Go to your GP Doc for pain management, they should be able to help you.

    Get a good Oncologist that will be proactive. Cancer is a growing disease and one needs a Doc that is thinking ahead instead of reacting. Ask your Onc about the latest treatment options. If he/she is not familiar, find a better Oncologist. Nothing in Cancer treatment is tried and true, it is an ever evolving and improving science.

    Best Always, mike
  • herdizziness
    herdizziness Member Posts: 3,624 Member
    #5
    NO
    She shouldn't be in this much pain. Even if it's for pain pills take her to the emergency room.
    Maybe it isn't cancer related yet still something life threatening? Not every ache and pain is cancer related.
    Having braved through my heart artery closing up, thinking it was cancer related and almost dead from that by a few hours, (because I wasn't willing to go to the ER for cancer pains) DON'T ASSUME everything is cancer related,and if it is, she should still NOT BE IN THAT MUCH PAIN!
    I say get to the ER, safer then sorry.
    Winter Marie
  • Doc_Hawk
    Doc_Hawk Member Posts: 685
    #6
    Liver pain
    There are no nerves in the liver, so if that's where the pain is then it's from something pressing against something else. Do everything that you can to get her to a doc for a complete exam and scans. As others have pointed out, it may not be cancer but it could be something such as cirrhosis of the liver. pain is the bodies way of saying that there's something wrong. Better that you both find out now.
  • janderson1964
    janderson1964 Member Posts: 2,215 Member
    #7
    I have had tumors in my
    I have had tumors in my liver on my liver on 3 different occasions. The last one was 8cm and attached to my diaphram but i never experienced any pain from them. It might be something else.
  • KathiM
    KathiM Member Posts: 8,028 Member
    #8
    Take her....tough love.
    ...it might be an obstruction....or something major.

    My beau, when faced with me complaining, said "Either I take you to the hospital, or I stop listening to you complain! If you don't care enough about yourself to see what it is, then I cannot help you! Not finding out what it is does not make it go away, and with many things (an obstruction, for instance), it can only get worse and you will regret not tending to it earlier!".

    Tough words, tough love. I was PISSED! But I shut my mouth, and went to the ER. turned out, with some major pain killers, my obstruction passed with nothing more than time.


    Hugs, Kathi
  • richls
    richls Member Posts: 54
    #9
    KathiM said:

    Take her....tough love.
    ...it might be an obstruction....or something major.

    My beau, when faced with me complaining, said "Either I take you to the hospital, or I stop listening to you complain! If you don't care enough about yourself to see what it is, then I cannot help you! Not finding out what it is does not make it go away, and with many things (an obstruction, for instance), it can only get worse and you will regret not tending to it earlier!".

    Tough words, tough love. I was PISSED! But I shut my mouth, and went to the ER. turned out, with some major pain killers, my obstruction passed with nothing more than time.


    Hugs, Kathi

    Thank you all
    Well I finally got her to the doctors today. He examined her and couldn't figure out what the pain was from. So he sent us for a ultra sound. We have not heard anything, so I go with no news is good news. Tell me does this sound crazy, I was in with my wife for 2 previous ultra sounds on her liver. I was even there for the biopsy on her liver as well. When the lady was doing the ultra sound today, she spent a lot of time taking pictures of her liver. I swear the spots (or growths) on her liver looked much smaller than what I remember from seeing them a few weeks ago. I am no doctor or anything like that, but I know what they looked like before. Can they shrink with just two chemo treatments like that?
    The dr. also mentioned that sometimes when a cyst dies, it can rupture, which can cause sharp pains. He didn't mention it after making that comment though. Thank you everyone for there help. You make it a lot easier to deal with this disease.
  • Chelsea71
    Chelsea71 Member Posts: 1,169 Member
    #10
    richls said:

    Thank you all
    Well I finally got her to the doctors today. He examined her and couldn't figure out what the pain was from. So he sent us for a ultra sound. We have not heard anything, so I go with no news is good news. Tell me does this sound crazy, I was in with my wife for 2 previous ultra sounds on her liver. I was even there for the biopsy on her liver as well. When the lady was doing the ultra sound today, she spent a lot of time taking pictures of her liver. I swear the spots (or growths) on her liver looked much smaller than what I remember from seeing them a few weeks ago. I am no doctor or anything like that, but I know what they looked like before. Can they shrink with just two chemo treatments like that?
    The dr. also mentioned that sometimes when a cyst dies, it can rupture, which can cause sharp pains. He didn't mention it after making that comment though. Thank you everyone for there help. You make it a lot easier to deal with this disease.

    Yes, two chemo treatments
    Yes, two chemo treatments can make the tumors smaller.

    Chelsea
  • herdizziness
    herdizziness Member Posts: 3,624 Member
    #11
    richls said:

    Thank you all
    Well I finally got her to the doctors today. He examined her and couldn't figure out what the pain was from. So he sent us for a ultra sound. We have not heard anything, so I go with no news is good news. Tell me does this sound crazy, I was in with my wife for 2 previous ultra sounds on her liver. I was even there for the biopsy on her liver as well. When the lady was doing the ultra sound today, she spent a lot of time taking pictures of her liver. I swear the spots (or growths) on her liver looked much smaller than what I remember from seeing them a few weeks ago. I am no doctor or anything like that, but I know what they looked like before. Can they shrink with just two chemo treatments like that?
    The dr. also mentioned that sometimes when a cyst dies, it can rupture, which can cause sharp pains. He didn't mention it after making that comment though. Thank you everyone for there help. You make it a lot easier to deal with this disease.

    Even One chemo treatment
    can make a difference and shrink tumors, here's hoping they've shrunk and keep on shrinking!!!!
    Winter Marie
  • tachilders
    tachilders Member Posts: 313
    #12
    There is a thing called
    There is a thing called liver capsular stretch pain, which can be caused by tumors in the liver. I experienced this for awhile, but have not recently. The best treatment for this is actually steroids and not pain killers. My oncologist gave me this information.

    Tedd

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