Question on abdominal pain

Hi Michelle, my husband also belongs to the stubborn club, so I can totally relate. When I think he needs to be seen by a doctor I give him three choices…he or I calls the doctors office for guidance, or we go to emerg, OR I call an ambulance. I promise that I will follow through and so we’ve never had to call an ambulance. I’ve been really ill before and tried to deny needing to go to emerg. Luckily no one listened to me and dragged me to the hospital – I ended up having a heart attack (at age 42) in the waiting room! Ever since that happened I’ve been non negotiable when it comes to making the call about seeing the doctor when I have a gut feeling. You may not feel very strong, but I can tell that you are super strong Michelle. You are handelling so much right now, more than the average mom/wife should ever have to handle. Be kind to yourself and know that there are many people here that believe in your strength. My son always says “We have to use our Super Powers for good!” Sometimes we have to use them to get others the care they need. Hang in there Michelle, one day at a time. As I read in another post….”just keep swimming….”

Dear Michele, pain, I have to say it like it is. Does not matter if pain is from something simple or something big if not kept under control it will be harder to control later! That is why it is so important to start at the get go and keep pain under control. Has he said why he is so against taking something for pain? I would suggest the next time you see the ONC ask him to explain to hubby why it is so very important to keep pain under control. He can start out small and work his way up to where he can still keep it at a minimum. Do you think he is scared to start on pain pills as its like an admission to him that this is not a good sign? I cannot imagine why anyone would want to suffer like that. I hope you or the ONC can work some magic with him. He is also using up the good energy he has to fight the pain, when he needs his rest to put up a good fight. I am sure you can call the ONC for the LAB report. Michele, you will get through this I can see it between your lines, you will handle it AND WE ARE ALL HERE FOR YOU.
You never know how strong you are until “strong” is the only choice you have!

Michele – I feel your pain. I have the same type of husband….just keeps telling it will be okay and don’t worry. His first symptoms were gallbladder like symptoms and it took me call and tattling to his primary care doc to get the ball rolling on that. When it all came back negative for gall bladder he just shrugged his shoulders and said see. Two weeks later he jaundiced so bad that it looked like someone took a yellow highlighter to him. The kids were shocked and a friend that came to visit was beyond shocked. He still just kept shrugging it off because he felt fine. He wanted to wait from Saturday until Wednesday when we had an appt with the GI doc. I finally fell to female manipulation…..I used tears and guilt (please don’t tell that I did that on purpose) and got him to go to the ER. Of course I had already begun to suspect what was going on because of CT scan a week earlier. Now he still tries to hide his elevated temps from me to keep my from worrying. They just don’t get that we worry more when they don’t talk to us. You may have to work some miracles with this one….he sounds as stubborn as mine. Don’t ever feel guilty if you have to use of tears or manipulation or point blank lies to get what you think is best…..it’s what needs to be done. Good luck tomorrow and hopefully he gets checked out soon.

KrisV

Hi Michelle I too have experienced ab pain and in the same areas as your husband. I am about to start my third cycle of chemo. After the first cycle my pain was bad enough that I went the local ER and informed by ONC that I would be going in (ONC is two hours away). As they said turned out nothing was wrong and was prescribed some medication. Fortunately I saw my doc just a day or 2 after and asked the question is the pain from chemo or is this my disease advancing, or possibly something else going on. Doc said at this point it was hard to say whether it’s the cancer or chemo. Though she did say that during chemo its common for inflammation to occur and pain could be a result from that. I am not sure what cycle your husband is on but my pain has started to dwindle away a couple weeks ago. Second week for me of having little pain! However I also take medication (took a while to find the right combo that worked for me) that has managed well so I am not suffering. I take oxycodone (not Percocet) and this does not contain any acetaminophen and has really helped me out a lot. I hope you guys get answers soon and I wish your husband to be pain free in the very near future. Good luck to you guys.

I had abdominal pain so severe it woke me up. The pain was severe and just kept getting worse. I went to the ER and it turned out to be an intestinal blockage that sometimes happens when you are on chemo. It has nothing to do with whether you are between cycles or not.

I don’t want to scare you but ….

RUN do not walk to the ER and have him seen. This is a very serious complication and he needs to be seen immediately.

Hope things get resolved soon.
-Randi-

I am with Lainy….either call the ONC or take him to the hospital. One thing that might help is give him a choice of one or the other….either call or go in and promise that if the ONC says go in that he will. One of the problems I have with my husband is his lack of control in his life. He would get frustrated and angry when he felt like all choice was taken away. He had an elevated temp recently and I knew he needed to go it but he was resisting me terribly so I told him to call or go in. He called and the ONC told him to get in ASAP. He still didn’t want to go but it wasn’t me telling him to go. He still grumbled but was in the ER. Guys can be hard sometimes especially when they start losing control and lose the vision of being the strong one in the family.
He may also need a stronger pain medication Tylenol 3 is not really all that strong and it may be his pain is “normal” pain but not well controlled. You may also just taking something routinely…like once in the AM and then again in PM. You can get better control that way.
Hang in there and keep an eye on him.
We are here.

Hi Michele, so sorry to hear he is still in that kind of pain. My own feeling is that he needs to be seen. He has a week to go to be seen and this is not right!
I think you are going to have to do some tough love here. Tell him that you are either taking him to ER or calling the ONC. I don’t know where it is coming from but pain that makes one want to scream. No, no, no waiting. Tell him you are the one taking care of him and he must listen to you. I know, it is hard to role reverse with husbands and parents but it must be done. I thank God Teddy listened to everything I asked of him. Guess he was afraid I would pull out the wet noodle for 20 lashes. Please do what you can do. Pretend I am right behind you egging you on and please let us know what transpires! Sending you a ton of hugs and support!