Lack of appropriate or adequate pain medication is one of the single greatest failings for cancer treatment -- some doctors are afraid to give enough thinking the patient will become "addicted" -- as long as there is real pain, this is rare. Gary givesyou grera advice -- you *must* ber the advocate for your mother as she cannot do it for herself. You must DEMAND that she get correct pain management. Go to the CCC and speak to their patient advocate person (or equivalent -- the one who oversees these sorts of problems) and speak to your mother's radiation oncologist. Oxycodone is the least powerful of the pain meds, and it is usually given every 4 hours. Oxycontine is next step up but many, as Gary says, actually do better with Duragesic -- fewer side effects and supposedly less apt to cause mental fogginess.

A GP with no experience with radiation patients has no business being the "point person" on her care.

Gail