New Pain Doc.

15 years 6 months ago #21031 by Clara
Replied by Clara on topic New Pain Doc.
Julie,
It sounds like you are least on the right track to find some relief for Dick and also for you....I know if he feels better, you will too.

Please let us know how this procedure turns out.

I think that many times it is just getting to the right person for help.

Clara

Caretaker of husband, Bob.
Stage IV
Diagnosed Jan, 2007

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15 years 6 months ago #21029 by julieanne
Replied by julieanne on topic New Pain Doc.
Julie,
I will be praying that this injection will help with Dick's pain. Thank you and others for sharing these details because I'm sure it will one day prove very useful to me and others. I'm sure you could indeed make many good suggestions as to how to improve medical services. I am only sorry that you have learned all this first hand.

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15 years 6 months ago #21008 by Julie
New Pain Doc. was created by Julie
Last week I asked Dick's primary care about finding someone new for Pain Management as we were not happy with the Pain Center he had been going to. The Dr. he first saw had been on medical leave for 4 months now and would be at least another 2 before he returned. The University had brought in a new Pain Specialist a month ago and his office is much closer to our home. We were able to see him today.

He did a thorough history and examined Dick to locate where the pain is located. Then like a magician pulled a rabbit out of a hat he said that he could help Dick by doing a procedure that would create a band of numbness around his chest and he could do it next week. He said that it would help enough so that Dick could reduce the amount of pain medications he is taking. It is a thoracic epidural steroid injection.
He will do the procedure in Radiology so he can use an x-ray to guide him when he puts the needle into the thoracic spine. It would be such a blessing for Dick to have some pain relief.

Dick says his pain with meds is about a 7 now. I could see by his behavior that the pain was getting worse again. It will be a real blessing if this works.

The hard part of this visit was explaining that since Dick has metastatic bladder cancer they are not treating the bladder cancer in his ureters. And also he cannot have chemo because of his bone marrow disorder. We also saw the urologist this afternoon and I had to again explain the situation to the resident. They want to help and fix things and I am put in the position telling them that Dick is in a no fix position and the best we can hope for is pain relief.

We have an appointment with a lymphedema specialist Tuesday. Getting the swelling down is a slow process and the swelling has caused even more problems now. To be indelicate his scrotum is swollen to the size of a small cantaloup and the urologist said it was the lymphedema which had gone high enough on his legs to start spilling into the scrotum. Dick is to sleep with a towel sling under the area to bring it up to being the highest point on his body so the fluid can drain out. This is a temporary solution if it works.

We have been out so much yesterday and today for Dr. appointments we weren't home when they phoned to say his power wheel chair is ready to be delivered. Of course when I returned the phone calls they were unavailable. I think the headquarters is on the East Coast and they shut down at 5. If they are dealing with the whole nation then they need to have staff on until 8 at night. I am filled with ideas about how medical service can be improved. Maybe I can have a new career as a consultant to hospitals and clinics on how to improve service to consumers. Julie

Volunteer Coordinator
ABLSC

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