I mentioned last week that I was having problems getting adequate pain control medicine from my surgeon. (I had surgery for partial glossectomy and selective lymph node dissection on May 10th and I am still having pain basically on the entire left side of my shoulders and neck.) My surgeon had sent me home with oxycodone and I had a severe allergic reaction to it, and then sent me via mail a presciption for percoset, and I had a similar reaction to that. When I called, they suggested I try them with Benadryl, which I did, all to no avail. I even tried using it with Claritin, but that didn't help the itching, or the fact that the pain medicine really wasn't doing the trick.

I called my surgeon back today and explained my problems and his nurse asked me what kind of pain killers I had used in the past. I told her that I had used some heavy painkillers in treating migraines, but that I didn't think that the Stadol would work for this kind of pain because it wasn't really meant to be used over and over again. Other than that, I had not really had a lot of different kind of pain meds. The nurse said she would call me back. When she did, she basically told me that all he could recommend now would be Celebrex or Motrin. I have used both of those things in the course of treating migraines in the last 20 years, and they are a step down from the drugs he was giving me to start with and I said as much to the nurse and that I didn't think they would come close to dealing with my pain levels. She pretty much said sorry, that was all they could offer. I asked if I should call my oncologist to see if he could offer anything and they said, "Yeah, you might want to do that."

Right now I am so mad I could just stamp my feet like a little kid. Not that it would do any good. Is there anything else I can do in this instance? Anyone have any suggestions. I put a call into my oncologist, but it didn't really sound like I was going to make any headway there either. It is just unbelievable to me that in my situation who has a history of being able to take pain medication for years without abusing them is now put in the position of having to justify their use in another application.

I also realized after reading the online article about Candida that I have a major infection going on in my mouth and that I did in the hospital, too. When I asked the nurse about it and whether it was what my Mom used to call "thrush," she just said she didn't really know what to do about it, but I could probably just rinse with the mouthwash they had given me and it would be fine.

I am wondering now if the pain I am experiencing in my throat could be from the Candida? I have a real problem swallowing, but it seems to just be on the left side of my mouth, on the same side that I had surgery on my tongue.

Any further thoughts on the subject would be appreciated.

RLM