Well, bolstered by everyone's encouragement, I went to bed last night determined to do battle this morning! What I hadn't bargained on was being unable to even lie down in bed beacuse of the pain and in spite of 2 AdvilPM! So I spent the night on the sofa, alternately playing computer Majhong, dozing, reading a magazine and taking more co-codamol at 5a.m. Was almost just gonna ring for ambulance and get taken into hospital (my ambititon is to NEVER spend a night in hospital!) Tiredness and last lot of pain-killers kicken in tho around 5.30 and I lay down and got 4 solid hours sleep!
Whilst debating whether to ring hospital to speak to Julie, my cancer nurse there, or Diane the cancer liaison person at surgery, phone rang and it was Julie to ask how I was doing! I promptly burst into tears and told her! Upshot was, she's put me in to the 'full MacMillan system' whereby a nurse will visit at home for full pain management. She also said to demand to get to see GP today about anti-anxiety meds, and if I got no joy, to ring her back, she would put pressure on.
Blew my nose several times and calmed sobs, rang Diane at surgery--explained--she said McMillan stuff may not happen immediately as there are only 2 specialised nurses for whole city, but said she would have a word with the new doc who has joined the team. She was trying to be professional but managed to give me the impression that he might be more thorough and sympathetic!
Surprise, surprise! 60 minutes later the DOC rang me--unheard of in my practice, summarised/verified the situation, said he would split the Co-codamol into separate Paracetomol and Codeine, so I can 'mix and match' to include ibuprofen to get maximum benefit for pain, gave me instructions on 'experimenting' and said this is the 'bottom rung' of the pain ladder and to report back to him if I decide to go on the patch/need more relief. He said any medication should not just be 'taking the edge off', I should have NO pain. When I gathered my breath and asked about anti-anxiety medication, he said no probs and the new prescription would be ready in 15 minutes---WOW!!!!
So I now have all the ingredients for pain-relief and hopefully, some good sleep to see me through Wednesday (10 whole tablets of 2mg. Diazepam!!!!!)
I'll let you know how it goes!
Brenda
Brenda in UK--Diagnosis 30/5/07--undifferentiated carcinoma in right jawbone and muscles. Stage 4 6/7/07--new diagnosis primary is in lung. Finished 4cycles of palliative carboplatin/gemcitabine therapy September 07 Now dying to live!