Finally I decided that I needed to call, because the pain couldn't wait for my Thursday chemo appointment. I called my PT, thinking that it might be a muscular issue. After describing the pain, she suggested that I call my oncologist so I called his office and talked to a nurse. She consulted with him and asked me to come in. I cancelled a voice lesson (that's a whole other story) and went in for the appointment. Dr. K said that it could be caused by many things and the pain seemed to be coming from the general area of my lung tumors. So, he sent me to get a CT scan. He order the scan to look at my heart too and rule out a pulmonary embolism. The waiting was torture, but I eventually heard back from Dr. K--the CT really didn't show anything. The tumors looked similar, with one looking slightly better and another looking worse, but nothing significant to tell us anything. So, the prescription was to wait and see and continue to take pain meds as needed.
The next day I saw my therapist and explained what had happened. She said that anxiety could also be causing the pain or contributing to it. So she suggested some relaxation exercises and visualization exercises. I'll try these because I definitely have issue with stress and anxiety.
Then, today I went to my rolfing therapist. Her thought is that the pain could be from my very, very tight chest muscles. So, she spent an hour working on that area and ouch! The area is still hurting, but I do feel like I can breath a bit easier.
I think that there is still something wrong and I'm not sure how we are going to figure it out, but I'll keep trying things to try to get this pain under control. I am taking the pain medications because my body does not need that stress.
I see Dr. K tomorrow for chemo, so we will definitely discuss the pain and hopefully come up with a plan for managing it.
I am also going to talk to him about the results of the CT Scan. I am glad that there wasn't a lot of new growth, but it is also discouraging that there wasn't significant shrinkage. I've only done 1 cycle (3 total infusions) and our original plan was to rescan after 2 cycles. I'm going to ask if that plan will change at all based on this new scan.
Nothing deep here today, just a report about how I'm doing.
2 comments:
I have been wondering a lot about your physical pain Lisa and am sorry you are experincing it, but glad you are working on controlling and easing it so your body isn't under as much stress. I agree with your therapist, any slight pain can be intensely amplified by anxiety. Do you have an activity or place you can go where you can just breathe and let go of your thoughts for a few minutes? The last time I was in Seattle I watched the sun set at Discovery Park, it was such a peaceful moment to take in. Maybe you can find a daily or weekly ritual where you can enjoy your surroundings and just breathe for a few minutes?
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