Unbearable Pain

Day 54 & 55

Monday night as we were going to bed Ann told me that she was having some unusually heavy bone pain. Since she is taking Nuepogen we expect a certain amount as it stimulates the growth of white blood cells and bone marrow that have been depleted after chemotherapy.

When I asked her about it she admitted that she had been having it earlier in the day but had started crying over the news of the denial of her BMT and forgotten to take her Darvon. Now after a few hours the pain was more intense than she had ever felt before. Even taking the maximum number of Darvon allowed by her Doctor didn't do anything. The pain was so bad that she was crying, shaking and beginning to curl up into a fetal ball.

I packed her up and took her to the Emergency room at MDA. They evaluated her and came to the conclusion that the pain was because of the Neupogen shots. Since Darvon wasn't being effective they elected to try giving her painkillers through her CVC instead. The first try was with Morphine, and it didn't work at all. The next was Dilaudid (aka hydromorphone) and it took 4 bags of that to get it under control.

When we left the ER at 3:00 am Ann was so nauseated by the drugs that she threw up in the car and then stay conscious only long enough for me to get her into bed. Sadly this didn't last. Three hours later she was awake and complaining of the same brutal pain.

The next morning I decided to take her into the leukemia clinic at MDA to see what the problem was. I though they could run some blood tests, take a bone marrow sample, anything. However Ann's leukemia Doctor wasn't there and we were again directed to the emergency room. Where Ann again was hooked up to Dilaudid IVs. The did take blood and noted her platelets where low (34 K/uL). Also that she was having some monthly bleeding so they gave her an transfusion of platelets to help with clotting.

We finally left the MDA ER at 4:30 in the afternoon with a prescription for 2 mg Dilaudid in hand. I'm not sure how well it works as Ann takes it and says that it just takes the edge off the pain but doesn't make it go away. She says the pill makes it hard for her to think and that upsets her.

We have the day off from appointments at MDA and I am hoping to catch up on housework, and some necessary business regarding her appeal. I am going to try to keep Ann in bed or off her feet as much as possible. I hope her bone pain begins to subside soon.