Thought Picnic: Bedfellows with pain

A pain again

Now I am thinking, maybe I do handle pain a lot better than I thought I could. For weeks, I have suffered this niggling pain in the regions of my sole where cancer lesions thrived just over a year ago.

For a while, I ignored the pain and refused to let it bother me as I surveyed the area regularly to see if changes were appearing. For my eyes, I could see no changes but there was some hardening of the skin so I applied lashings of moisturising balm to ease the tightness and in some cases it was soothing too.

The typical off-the-counter analgesics did not seem to get to the pain at all so I did not bother popping those pills anymore, they were not working, the pain was somewhat deep-tissue and affecting my walking.

See me and observe it

So, yesterday, the discomfort was at a point where I felt I should call my treatment advisor as well as call in sick at work, I could think but the pain was becoming a distraction.

My treatment advisor spoke to my treatment consultant and arranged for stronger painkillers to be dispensed by my local chemist by fax, we also agreed to have me visit the hospital just to have a look at my foot as precautionary observation.

I biked to the hospital this morning and soon had my socks off showing my foot. It felt tender, slightly discoloured but on advice there was nothing to worry about. Apparently, there are occasions during the healing process where the pain might subside or return, since I had no fever and there was no sign of blisters or skin atrophy we just needed to monitor the situation.

Small pills for much pain

I had a long chat to the catholic pastor I had not seen since late spring, a topic for another blog and then picked up my prescription from the chemist.

Small white capsules for much felt pain; three a day, to kill the pain and the management to reduce the dosage over time.

All considered, I thought about how I had learnt to accept pain without much fuss; some experiences just have a way of becoming the norm.