Today is Dec.15 and we have just come back with a meeting at the pain clinic. I don't know what happened to the first group of medical people we met with, however I am so pleased with the doctor and pharmacist we met with today. We spent a lot of time with them --almost an hour and a half. They had read Bob's chart and were familiar with what had been happening. They also had a plan. From this point forward the pharmacist will have the lead. Altho, he explained, when Bob's pain is stabilized and under control the prescribing goes back to Dr. Bahlis. Their case load is huge with drug care for cancer patients plus the palliative cancer care. Bob is staying with the Lyrica and Cymbalta. These are for the neuropathy plus could be having an effect on the bone pain as well. The plan is to use only one opioid which will be hydromorphone. This will be in various amounts and strategies until the right recipe is found. Bob said that he could live with pain at a level 4. That would be acceptable to him. So now we wait until the pharmacist phones this afternoon as to how to go from here. Bob has taken the agreed upon dose when we got home. We will also be receiving a detailed instruction paper to follow once our meds are at our pharmacy. HURRAH!!!!! Our local pharmacists love us to pieces. Prescriptions are always changing and each time we go in, Pharmacist Bob and Pharmacist Ali just smile and smile--- they have been great at caring for us.
The doctor we saw today is great. She checked the pain areas. She looked at the PET scans again and checked again. She is going to get in touch with Dr. Bahlis so they can co ordinate any further tests. Dr. Murray wants to find exactly where the pain is originating. One possible next step is radiation on the hip, pelvis area ---where there is a tumour. That does not seem to be where the pain is coming from tho.
It will be awesome when the new cancer centre is built. Sadly our former provincial governments dithered around making a decision about building the centre for a large number of years. For all I know it may have been completed or almost completed by now. Today Bob and I saw the reality of that. We knew that Tom Baker was beyond capacity but this took the cake: The doctor had booked a room to see us in however someone was using the room. Then a switch happened and we could go in and the other folks went elsewhere. This room had the title QUIET ROOM and had a love seat and 2 comfy side chairs--not an examining room. The room was super hot with a noisy fan. This room I was thinking was where a family perhaps came to be told a loved one had a cancer diagnosis. When the doctor wanted to do an examination of Bob she went out to find a room but there was nothing available. So part of the exam was done with Bob standing up.. When he was to lie down well it was super funny--feet over one end and head up one love seat arm. The doctor was not impressed and apologized profusely. The shortage in cancer funding is huge especially when we consider how many people are dealing with some form of cancer or other.
In spite of the many hurdles and shortages that the professionals at Tom Baker Cancer Care deal with, they have all been more than caring and amazing. They do more than their very best, to treat each patient and family with respect and care. Bob and I are grateful for everyone of these professionals, whom we have dealt with over the past eight years. We are also grateful to our Lord Jesus Christ for allowing us to live in this province at this time.
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