Day 20 - Pain

I woke up at 6.30 after getting a pretty good night's sleep. I decided to do things a little different last night to see how my mouth was when I woke. Previously it has been extremely dry and sore. Last night I only woke up once, and instead of using my moisterising mouth wash, I rinsed my mouth with Difflam. I also didn't use the mouth ulcer cream as it left a foul tasting residue.

As a result, while still dry, my mouth wasn't as sore as it has been the last few days. My throat was still very sore.

Difflam was easy to use and it was reasonably flavoured with a mint taste, so it wasn't completely unpalatable. The Difflam anti-inflamatory spray was good to take the edge of the pain in my throat.

I had an Up N Go drink, and made some porridge, although I was only able to finish about half of the bowl. Swallowing eventually became painful again.

As early as I could, I rang the trial nurse at the hospital and spoke to her about the pain I was experiencing and asked her to arrange an appointment with a Doctor this afternoon when I was at the hospital for my radiotherapy appointment. She rang back around an hour later to confirm it had been arranged, and suggested I try Panadol Rapid (Soluable) as a mouth rinse and pain reliever for my throat. So I did, and it worked a bit.

I did a little work in the morning.

Having such a sore throat affected my appetite. I didn't want to eat, but I knew that I had to. I used the Lignocaine and had some more Panadol Rapid. This combination worked ok and I still had a little soup remaining, so I heated it up and put it into the Nutribullet. It went down pretty well.

I was applying an ice pack to my lip frequently. It helped.

I noticed when brushing my teeth that my gums were getting sensative to my tooth brush, and every now and then a bristle would pierce my gum and make it bleed.

My radiotherapy appointment was at 3.20pm, and I had a follow up meeting with a Nurse at 3.55 after treatment. The trial nurse arranged for me to meet the Radiotherapy Oncologist prior to my treatment to discuss pain management. Prior to this though, I had to have my weekly blood test.

I have my weekly blood test taken at Pathwest at the hospital on Mondays now because mornings at the Mirrabooka branch is filled with people who have fasted overnight so there is a long wait. I haven't waited longer than 5 minutes at the hospital.

I left at 1.30pm and after having my blood taken, was in the radiotherapy waiting room at 3 o'clock. Not long after I arrived, the trial Nurse arrived and took me to see the Radio Oncologist. His message to me was that there was little they could do other than prescribe stronger pain medication, another mouth wash. This time it was opioid based, morphine.

I wasn't keen to use this, nor was I keen to use the previously prescribed Cocaine mouthwash. Frankly, I've spent nearly 15 years on the Board of Teen Challenge Foundation, helping to raise money for their drug treatment programs. The last thing I wanted to do is start using the very drugs I despised.

The Doctor gave me very specific instructions on how the morphine medicine should be used, but I haven't filled the prescription yet. I haven't filled the Cocaine mouthwash prescription yet either. I figure I'll wait until I can't manage the pain without it before using. I figure there will come a time because I still have 23 more treatments to go.

The Doctor also suggested I suck on Difflam lozenges. Luckily we have some of these at home, so I was able to take some immediately (once home). I knew we had them but felt they may be quite high in sugar, which to protect my teeth, I was trying to avoid.

I had my regular Monday checkup with the Radiotherapy Nurse. After having answered the regular series of questions, this time explaining that I was experiencing quite a bit of pain and some other physical changes, she gave me a kind of foam toothbrush to use. This was in response to my commenting that my gums had gotten sensitive to my regular toothbrush. She also recommended actions to take to manage the pain, most of which I was already using.

Going through all of this has resulted in me paying less attention to the chemo induced rash on my face, neck and chest. I guess that is a good thing, because it hasn't gone away even with using the new antibiotic drug. I am not getting the headaches I had previously while using the drug first prescribed and the pussy blisters, called postules, were no longer everywhere. As well, the red spots, called papules, have reduced in number and overall redness. This is a postiive among too few these days.

I slept when I got home. Once I woke up, I tried to eat Shepherd's Pie for dinner, thinking that the mash would assist in swallowing. It didn't. I didn't have anything more to eat that night because I just wasn't hungry and my sore throat wasn't helping.

I brushed my teeth as part of my normal M&T Routine, applied the antibiotic cream to my face and went back to watch TV as I wasn't feeling tired, having had a sleep after getting home. Instead, I laid down onthe lounge room couch and dozed all night.