Todd's Journey

The story of my cancer journey

Pain Management update

- Posted in The Journey by with comments

We have been trying different approaches to my pain management in terms of my leg and sciatica. As mentioned, Dr. Morash is going to send me for an MRI just to see if there is anything specific around my piriformis muscle or with my lower back that may be impeding upon my sciatica nerve.

The only real way to resolve this issue is through movement of that muscle and rest at the same time. This was just not possible with the level of pain I was having with my leg.

We are now taking the approach of keeping on top of the pain by taking a pain killer every 4 hours, like clockwork, whether I need it or not, just to maintain a baseline of pain control.

This does seem to help a lot, (not so much overnight and first thing in the morning) but it is much more controlled during the day with less flareups and more relief.

The drawback to the pain management working is it causes me to be very drowsy during the day now. I nap almost every couple of hours for a half hour or so, but even that helps me a lot. Given my lack of sleep at night sometimes, I do feel like I am catching up on some sleep issues.

The pain in the muscle could still be a side effect of the immunotherapy that hasn't quite stopped yet. Until we get back the results of the MRI and X-Ray of that area, we don't yet have a good idea of what is going on there, and so it's difficult to start treatment without risking causing further problems.

But for now, it's back to napping for me. Just wanted to keep you all updated.

Thanks again for keeping in touch with me. It's always so good to hear from everyone. I could not have beat this major battle in my life without all of your support, prayers and wishes.

Sciatica seems to be (fingers crossed) slowly healing. I am having a bit of an easier time moving around now without the aid of a cane or walker. Still have aches and pains from the sciatica, but much more bearable. I am using Dilaudid to keep ahead of any flare-up pain.

Due to the increase in creatinine, they have moved me up from 40mg of Presnidone (steroid) to 75mg. This is a normal course of action when trying to supress immunotherapy since at times when the steroid dose may be too low, the immunotherapy kicks back in. The rise in this dose has caused me difficulty in managing my blood glucose levels. Not a big deal though, as I can somewhat manage it through insulin dose changes. It's just not an exacting science, so sometimes the dose works, and other times it takes more.

I had my cancer CT scans yesterday on my chest and abdomin. We can expect the results of the scan to be available next week sometime. Hopefully the scans will be all clear with no further signs of cancer or cancer spread. I will keep you posted on the results.

I always try to remember what Dr. Morash (my urology oncologist) once told me. He said I have to remember that my bladder, ureters, kidneys, and all that area have been through a lot in the last nine months. It takes time for all of that to heal and get better. So I take every positive as just that. Positive. The number of negatives gets smaller and smaller. Good progress.