Tis a puzzlement …
On Tuesday evening I started getting very sharp crampy pains just below my right ribs, which I put down to possible indigestion from inadvertently pigging out at Enrique Becerra at lunchtime. But the pain was still there and getting worse yesterday morning (though I didn’t let it stop me going out to the Alcázar – I just walked real slow) but then afterwards I started to worry that it might be my cancerous liver acting up. So I called Dr A., who said that if the pain was still there in the evening or had got worse then I should go to emergency and have it checked out.
Well, by 9.30 pm I was in agony and could barely walk so Nog & I taxied over to the hospital. . .
To cut a long story shortish … five hours, a blood test and x-ray, and two doctor consultations later I was told that they had ruled out anything “serious” and they sent me home after giving me a massive painkiller injection. Oh, and they said I might want to see my oncologist again before the 12th.
Today I did try calling my oncologists, hoping to speak to one of the six-person team. Turned out most of them are on holiday, so I left my name and number for someone to call me back and said they could find the report of my emergency visit on the computer … nobody called back.
Meanwhile, I did wake up with less pain this morning. My normal thing would be to not take any more pills until I had really bad pain again, but after a chat with Nog I realised that pain oft begets more pain, so I decided to stay on painkillers for today and then ‘experiment’ tomorrow and see if the pain is gone or if it’s back by lunchtime.
It’s worrisome though. That nobody could tell me why I had quite serious pain right where my liver is. As I sat there in the horribly depressing waiting room for five fucking hours!!! I had visions of being whisked off for emergency surgery again. Or else stuck in Observation overnight and then being told something scary in the morning. And so, when they finally gave me the ‘all clear’ to leave I almost didn’t care that it was 3 in the morning. I just wanted to GO HOME!
Finally got back around 4 and, since we’d missed dinner and were starving, had a nice repast of scrambled eggs and leftover basmati rice. Finally got to bed sometime before 5 and of course when the cats couldn’t wake us up at 8 o’clock in their usual annoying fashion, Sunny decided to throw up all over the place. It’s that pre-puke hoarking sound that gets us every time. Bastard shit-bag totally lovable darlings that they are …
Otherwise and that, been having a fabulous day. You see, I’d kind of been slipping on the carpe diem thang, but today I woke up feeling like I’d been given another chance, a reprieve if you will, because I wasn’t stuck in a hospital bed with something else horribly wrong with me. I even did a happy dance in the supermarket next to the frozen food this morning … Nog pretended to be not embarrassed. And I’ve been smiling at everyone who looks my way.
Fuck damn but it’s good to be home! 🙂
casa azahar 
I’m glad you came through that scare on the brighter side of things. I agree, you should take the pain killers. Why suffer the pain? It just makes everything so much worse. What a tick-off that all your experts are away on holidays…I’m kinda running into the same thing over here, but I still have back up should I encounter a real crisis.
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Yes, gnaw on those painkillers. There is no reason to endure pain for pain’s sake; it exists only to tell you something is wrong, and get you to take action. You did, and kudos for doing so.
I’m no medical professional, but the first thing I thought of was that it was a reaction to the effects of chemo. Chemo will actually physically shrink tumors, and that means some rearranging takes place on the inside. Tumors are not usually served by nerves, but nerves may pass near them and they may grow around them, and it’s possible that the “cry of pain” you heard was coming from the cancer itself.
I could be totally off base, but that was my first thought.
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Well, and the other thing, in addition to what Raincoaster said, which makes a lot of sense, is I seem to recall that while you were eating you were also drinking a certain amount of wine. Let us not forget that the cancer is in your liver, which is where your body has to produce the enzymes that detoxify that substance known as alcohol. Perhaps your liver was feeling overworked. Also, I don’t know where your cancer actually is, but you were also eating tapas, which are delicious but also contain quite a bit of fat. When you eat fat, your gall bladder, which is intimately associated with and connected to your liver, is stimulated to emit bile, which your body needs in order to digest fats. If the cancer is anywhere near your gall bladder, it could have had an impact on the proper functioning of that little thing, which could have produced pain. I understand gall bladder attacks can be extremely painful.
Anyway, painkillers are there to help manage pain, and if you don’t take them when you need them you can’t rest right so that you can heal. so do the drugs, hon!
Hope you feel better fast.
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Wow, I’m so glad you’re home again, and not back in hospital. I’ve had a couple of hights like that, sitting up in a hospital waiting room, nodding off and/or fidgety while listening for your name to be called…
Carpe Diem, it’s a thought I should be having a little more often, I think.
I remember getting sharp pains after coming home from the hospital (literally breath-taking ones) and being told the same thing, that I was okay, could have been gas, etc, etc.
Sorry to hear you’re having them, HMH may be right about the cause, though. And, *do* take those pills.
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Yeah, it’s a bit of a pain that so many people are away on holiday right now, WC.
In the end nobody at the hospital could tell me the cause of the pain, but I think you could be right, Rain, that it’s just another side effect of the chemo. Abdominal pain is on the rather long list and last time I also had crampy pain for a few days, but it was lower down and not as severe.
I’m sure that overeating and having more wine than usual that day didn’t help, hmh. Though I still find that a glass of wine with my main meal of the day (usually lunch) helps with the digestion and general ‘feel good’ relaxation.
I’m thinking of getting a travel scrabble board for future waiting room time with Nog, SC. He isn’t as chatty as Pipocas or La J, so this would help pass the time. I’ll ask Pipocas if she can maybe bring one back with her from the States (she’s there on holiday right now).
Anyhow, remember how I said I was going to take the painkillers yesterday and see how that went? Well, they are supposed to be taken every 8 hours so I took one when I got up. And then around 7 pm I realised that I’d forgotten to take the lunchtime pill because, well, the pain had disappeared! Very strange. Especially as on Thursday evening I was literally doubled over. This morning it was back – just a little – so I popped another pill at breakfast.
At least I’ve learned that if I get weird abdominal pain next time I will take pain pills first, before rushing off to hospital. And I also got the carpe diem reminder, which actually made the whole experience worthwhile. 🙂
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Wise comments, hmh, those were about the same I had when reading az’s post.
Another thought I had was spasms in the bile ducts inside the liver. Some medications can give such. Take your painkillers and discuss the matter with your oncologist next time you see her/him.
*hugs*
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I also had another thought as I was giving a massage this morning. Your pain could very well be muscular spasms. If you check out the position of your diaphragm in relation to your liver (and your stomach, lower back, spleen) you will discover that it is right in the same vicinity. This is a very large muscle that certainly can have muscle spasms in it, and when they do happen there it is very difficult to access the tissue to get it to release the spasms.
All the other stuff that has been going on in terms of pain, fear, stress, surgery, bad digestion, nausea, etc. could certainly have had an impact on the health and well-being of that muscle. It has been my observation that when there are muscular spasms going on, physicians and emergency room staff do not always pick up on them as a cause of pain.
At any rate, I am so glad that they seem to be better.
Moderation in all things! (Even moderation)
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I want to clarify that I was not trying to imply that you should not drink any wine at all. In my book, a glass or two of wine certainly does aid the digestion, and anything that helps you feel good and relax is a GOOD thing. I just wanted to suggest that your poor liver, already dealing with a cancer and having to detoxify and process a bunch of drugs, not the least of which is the chemo drugs, might do better if it wasn’t overloaded.
I was interested by a recent article that showed that the chemicals in wine help protect your body against the effects of the fats in meat, cheese and butter, which may account for why the Mediterraneans, especially the French, have a low incidence of cardiac disease while at the same time eating a diet full of meat, cheese and butter.
All together now, lets stand up and give a rousing cheer for wine!
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well if it’s any consolation az, if I was in your position right now, I’d probably be drinking myself silly, and I wouldn’t give a fuck whether it was helping me or harming me, given the hard statistical information I’d been told. I’d be in some other place mentally. It must be utter hell, trying to be healthy, having to live 24hours a day with such information.
And of course none of us have the first clue what caused your liver pain. And I know if it was me I’d be imagining the worst and all the optimistic suggestions would mean fuck all.
Much love…
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The diaphragm was another thing I’d considered, hmh. But not to worry since the worst seems to be over (touch wood).
“All the other stuff that has been going on in terms of pain, fear, stress, surgery, bad digestion, nausea, etc. could certainly have had an impact on the health and well-being of that muscle.”
And not just that muscle, but my whole body. I do try to keep upbeat and focus on things I like doing, distract myself with pleasant things, but I know I’m still very scared about all this. That’s gotta have an effect somewhere.
I am in fact being moderate in all things (except maybe tv watching). Heck, the last night nursemyra and I went out for tapas I left my second glass of wine on the bar. It just wasn’t feeling or tasting good. I’m quite sure that was a first for me. 😉
Hi Fanny! 🙂
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yeah, I remember that night you left your wine on the bar, your body was definitely saying “no more” then.
have you distracted yourself by watching “Serenity” yet?
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I am sending “no pain” thought to my beloved Az….
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I know I shouldn’t say this but there is something about this post that just seems happy. Sorry about the scare but I’m glad you’re home.
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Yes, finally watched Serenity yesterday, nursemyra. Very entertaining. Lots of fun influences there – star trek, star wars, blade runner. Nice prezzie. 🙂
Thanks, Anneke. Pain is pretty much gone now (other than a bruised ego from the thrashing you’re giving me on Scramble) and I’m heading into week 3 – my ‘week off’. Yay!
It was definitely a happy ending, cj. For some reason I’ve been having an emotionally wonky couple of days, and that ‘glad to be home’ feeling keeps bringing me back from the brink.
I need to remember what Rain once said about ‘the chemo talking’ and distance myself from some of the dark thoughts and emotions I get at times. They don’t tend to last long if I don’t ‘identify’ with them.
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Remember, you have to get better to the point where I can give you a big bear hug! Take care.
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