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As many of you know, Mike has been experiencing tremendous pain over the past several weeks and unfortunately the pain medication just doesn’t seem to be cutting it no matter how many times we increase it. He is in constant pain whenever he walks or even just sitting because of the location of the tumour in his hip/pelvic bone.
So, yesterday we went to see the Pain Management Team at the Ottawa General for other possible solutions. They feel that it is time for Mike to have what they call an “intrathecal catheter” or an “implanted epidural”. This gets implanted into your back and a port is attached to a pump with liquid medication and is often used for cancer patients who have this type of pain. The procedure requires sedation (so he can be still) and a 48-72 hour stay in hospital in Ottawa again so that they can get the amounts of medication correct before sending us home. However, they feel that it is the best option for Mike since it will provide constant medication as opposed to taking pills every 8 hours. The bonus gift is that his head will be clear ie; he won’t be so stoned or “out of it”. We were also told if this works, he would be much more able to do things like travel perhaps (I wonder if they would let us go to Texas????). There are no guarantees and some risks to the procedure but the doctors feel that the benefits far outweigh the risks.
The plan is to go to Ottawa General on Tuesday, June 18 to be admitted, then he would have the procedure on Wednesday, June 19. They would then monitor him for the next few days and play around with the dose of meds. They would also be weaning him off the other pain medications that he currently on – not something you want to quit cold turkey apparently. Once home, a nurse would come in and take care of the sterile bandages and all that fun stuff.
We are hopeful that this will be of great benefit to Mike and that he might actually have some of that “quality of life” they keep talking to us about.
Thanks for all the support BCC!
Monique
sounds like a great solution for mike!
i am sure you are qualified enough to do the dressings…..
hugs
lynnIn your corner all the way.
This sounds like a good plan. Now let’s pray it is effective at controlling the pain.
Blessings to you both.Thanks for all the prayers….and Jack, I’m not that kind of guy LOL!
Mike
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