New Port

KathiM said:

NEVER be a pain hero!!!
I was in constant pain from my 2" tumor that had settled against my tailbone. But I refused to take anything stronger than Tylenol, for fear of becoming addicted. HOGWASH!!! I lost all sorts of weight, because I didn't want to eat from the pain.

Finally, I started taking the Vicodin that had been perscribed...I started eating again, was up and around...

I hope he gets better FAST!

Hugs, Kathi

Pain meds and pain
Something we should all make a mental note of, and caregivers should as well, so they can remind their loved ones that they are caring for.

Pharmaceutical pain killers that are prescribed by a doctor, are exactly that... PAIN - KILLERS. They are there to kill the pain. That is their purpose... if you have pain, depending on the kind of pain it is, the doctor will prescribe an appropriate pain killer for that pain... and will monitor it so that if the pain continues and the med isn't working, then they will change the med. There are so many medications out there and, just like we are unique individuals with unique reactions to the same treatments... we all react differently to pain meds, hence why doctors have to experiment somewhat until they find what works for you. Being a martyr and saying, "It doesn't hurt that bad", or "I'll save that pain med until I really need it" defeats the purpose... and totally throws the plan off kilter. The plan is to stop the pain before it gets out of hand... it's a lot easier to control pain if you can catch it at the beginning and not wait until it's out of control. Once it's out of control, it's a lot harder to manage.

So when we are talking a temporary kind of pain, such as a port installation... it really doesn't matter if your doctor prescribes you incredibly strong pain meds. If that is what it takes to make you comfortable, then that is what you take... knowing full well it's going to be for a temporary time period. If the kind of pain you are having is something that is long term, then they will prescribe a long term pain med. I don't think ANYONE with cancer or any serious illness should worry about getting addicted. As long as there is pain there, the meds will go to work on the pain and there is no left over meds to then act as a recreational high.

Pain will prevent healing, so if you are in pain, the #1 goal should be to work with your doctor to get out of pain.

My oncologist said something to me at the beginning of this journey that has stuck with me all along. She said this will be a long journey ahead and I will more than likely have good days with treatments and not so good days. If part of the treatment plan will be future surgeries, then we can pretty much figure there will be pain involved. But in this day and age, there is no reason for pain, no matter what the cause of it during your cancer treatment... because for every type of pain out there, there are medications to relieve it so you are never physically in pain. The trick will be finding the correct pain med for my pain... but we will find it, not to worry. And so far... almost 2 years later, she has been right.

As for the shoulder pain because of the port installation. I, too, was wide awake for the surgery. I think it was more because I just wasn't affected by the med through the IV that was suppose to knock me out. Apparently, that is not uncommon. I definitely had a sore arm for the week after the surgery... and it was difficult to raise it, but I just figured, "Hey, if they cut into you, place a foreign object, sew it to a muscle so it doesn't go floating around, then it's bound to be uncomfortable". I told my onc this and she upped my pain med. Did that stop the pain or was it because the week was almost up? I have no idea.

I had the port in for almost a year (8 months of it was for chemo). But then my shoulder and upper arm really started hurting. Again, I was put on pain meds, but for whatever reason, they didn't help. Since we were stopped the chemo treatments, she ordered that the port come out. Well, sheesh... that arm hurt for months after the port came out and it seemed nothing would touch the pain. We FINALLY found a med which my GP actually prescribed to me for my arthritis... and that stopped the pain in the shoulder... go figure, eh??

Hugggggs,

Cheryl