Missing Patch

Last Tuesday night, I had an awful night, waking up constantly from pain and finding it difficult to fall back asleep.  Early Wednesday morning, I woke up in excruciating pain.  It took over an hour, and several pain killers, until I managed to return to a fitful sleep.

I could barely move on Wednesday;  I felt so weak.

I had planned on spending the day doing fun things with my youngest daughter.  Instead, I spent the day in bed.  We were both very disappointed.

Thursday morning, I went to switch my pain patch (the patch slowly releases pain medication and needs to be switched every three days) and discovered that the 50 mg pain patch had fallen off.  Patches come in different sizes and strengths and I am currently wearing a 50 mg patch and a 12.5 mg patch.

No wonder I felt such pain!

I was not receiving most of my pain medication!

I put on the new patches and took a Percocet.

What a difference!

The patches are these small see-through stickers that you stick on your body (I put it in on my upper arm).  They look so benign, I wondered how much pain relief they actually provide.

Apparently, the effect of the pain relief patches is quite signifcant!
 


Please daven (or send happy, healing thoughts) for RivkA bat Teirtzel.

With love and optimism,
RivkA

Medical Update -- Markers & Pain

My apologies for not providing this update sooner.

My markers are down!

Really down.

For months, my markers were on the rise. And they were climbing high! That, combined with a significant and steady increase in pain, was the main indicator that my previous chemo regimen was not working.

Almost as soon as I started on Taxol (in December), my markers started coming down.

About a month ago, they finally reentered the "normal" range.

The most recent tests indicated that they were still in the normal range, and even lower than the previous results.

This is great!

Regarding pain, things are a little less clear cut. At first, the Taxol seemed to have a substantial effect on my pain as well. For a brief period, I stopped taking pain killers regularly. The respite did not last long. Significantly, when I did need pain killers, I still needed to take both Optalgin and Algolysin.

These days, in addition to back and hip pain, I have pain in my lower rib cage, increased sensitivity in both shoulders, and pain in my neck.

Currently, I take pain medication 2-4 times a day. Occasionally, I need to augment the pain meds. Usually, half a Percocet is enough.

I still do not like taking drugs.



Please daven (or send happy, healing thoughts) for RivkA bat Teirtzel.

With love and optimism,
RivkA

Less Pain

For the first time in six month, I am taking less pain killers than I was a week ago.

I find myself going for hours at a time with no medication. That hasn't happened for the longest time.

As of a week ago, I was taking two Optalgins and two Algolysins every four hours, and I could barely wait for the next dose. I knew that it would not be much longer before I had to move up to the next level in the world of pain killers (from Algolysin to Percocet).

When I need to take pain killers, I still need two Optalgins and one Algolysin, but even that is less than I was taking a week ago.

I have had only two doses of Taxol, so this is certainly not a definitive indication that the chemo is working.

Still, it is encouraging.



Please daven (or send happy, healing thoughts) for RivkA bat Teirtzel.

With love and optimism,
RivkA