I had a phone meeting with Dr. V today and she still believes she can help relieve pain with the Cyberknife. They will schedule a date ASAP to have me come in to implant 3 gold bead markers as reference points for the plan. They give that a week to heal, then do another CT scan planning session. Then I'll do from 5 - 10 sessions with the knife. My hip will still be unstable so she may refer me to an orthopedist for an opinion whether anything can be done to surgically stabilize it. Most positive thing I've heard in a while.
She also encouraged me to go on disability. I really don't have a choice. Even after not leaving the house since Thursday, my one trip out for acupuncture had me really hurting in no time. But at least this could be short term rather than the long term I had anticipated.
Monday, January 16, 2012
Saturday, January 14, 2012
More Pain
Just over two months since my last post and things have only gotten worse. My impression had been that everytime I did another round of Avastin it would get harder to walk. The walker helped only briefly at making it easier to walk, then became so difficult to use and exhausting that I finally decided to just pay for an electric scooter myself. I had to wait more than 2 weeks for it to get here, but it did make getting around easier. The plan was to leave it at the office and just take Harborview cases so I could zip around and see clients there.
Once again that worked well for a short time. But again, the pain in my hip continued to worsen. I can not be in any particular chair or hold any particular position for more than maybe 2 hours before hurting again. I started having to take Vicodin during the day too. I brought my camping recliner to work so that I can recline to take the weight off my hip for times during the day. But still I hurt every single day.
I did get an MRI of my head on Dec 16th that showed that tumor was once again stable. While there Dr. V did say she thought the Cyberknife COULD help with the hip pain and said she would consult with Dr. D about that.
My last chemo was scheduled for Jan.5th. When I saw Dr. D he was taken aback at how difficult it was for me to walk so he decided to skip the chemo and send me for a CT scan to see what was going on and maybe try the radiation after all. I heard nothing about the results all week. But by Thursday the 12th I could hardly walk, even with the walker. I came home and went to bed since I had no cases at court that day. I also called Dr. D's office to see when I might hear something about CT results.
The nurse called back with very little in terms of details, but said that he had not been able to discuss the results with Dr. V yet. She also said that it did not seem that the cancer in the hip was growing, but that I had an orthopedic problem that made my hip susceptible to fracture. Dr. V's office called to schedule an appointment shortly after so I see her Monday to discuss results.
My suspicion is that the Avastin (or maybe earlier radiation) has damaged my hip. I further suspect that more radiation actually will NOT help with pain and that fracturing my hip is inevitable. So I'm not expecting good news Monday.
I had also asked for a stronger pain med when I talked to the nurse Thursday, thinking I might get Percocet for "breakthrough" pain. Instead, I got MS Contin and Dilaunin, both very powerful painkillers, synthetic morphine based.
Soooo, I am am now contemplating going on disability, depending on the news I get Monday. Continuing work was extremely difficult and painful. I suffered every day. Without the kind assistance of my colleagues I could not have even done what I have done. But I did it with the hope the pain would eventually be manageable. If that is not the case, I cannot work like this. Sad news indeed.
BTW, Darcy tried to fill the pain med prescription yesterday and they could not do it. Might have been nice since the ibuprofen, Vicodin and Valium aren't really cutting it any more. I wonder if I'll be able to get some sleep on these new Meds.
Once again that worked well for a short time. But again, the pain in my hip continued to worsen. I can not be in any particular chair or hold any particular position for more than maybe 2 hours before hurting again. I started having to take Vicodin during the day too. I brought my camping recliner to work so that I can recline to take the weight off my hip for times during the day. But still I hurt every single day.
I did get an MRI of my head on Dec 16th that showed that tumor was once again stable. While there Dr. V did say she thought the Cyberknife COULD help with the hip pain and said she would consult with Dr. D about that.
My last chemo was scheduled for Jan.5th. When I saw Dr. D he was taken aback at how difficult it was for me to walk so he decided to skip the chemo and send me for a CT scan to see what was going on and maybe try the radiation after all. I heard nothing about the results all week. But by Thursday the 12th I could hardly walk, even with the walker. I came home and went to bed since I had no cases at court that day. I also called Dr. D's office to see when I might hear something about CT results.
The nurse called back with very little in terms of details, but said that he had not been able to discuss the results with Dr. V yet. She also said that it did not seem that the cancer in the hip was growing, but that I had an orthopedic problem that made my hip susceptible to fracture. Dr. V's office called to schedule an appointment shortly after so I see her Monday to discuss results.
My suspicion is that the Avastin (or maybe earlier radiation) has damaged my hip. I further suspect that more radiation actually will NOT help with pain and that fracturing my hip is inevitable. So I'm not expecting good news Monday.
I had also asked for a stronger pain med when I talked to the nurse Thursday, thinking I might get Percocet for "breakthrough" pain. Instead, I got MS Contin and Dilaunin, both very powerful painkillers, synthetic morphine based.
Soooo, I am am now contemplating going on disability, depending on the news I get Monday. Continuing work was extremely difficult and painful. I suffered every day. Without the kind assistance of my colleagues I could not have even done what I have done. But I did it with the hope the pain would eventually be manageable. If that is not the case, I cannot work like this. Sad news indeed.
BTW, Darcy tried to fill the pain med prescription yesterday and they could not do it. Might have been nice since the ibuprofen, Vicodin and Valium aren't really cutting it any more. I wonder if I'll be able to get some sleep on these new Meds.
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