Pain Management

On Thursday afternoon, Emily's pain was so severe that her doctors recommended she go to the ER. They admitted her to the hospital and the first order of business was to find her a pain killer that would actually work, unlike the Advil and Oxycodone she had been taking. She was also dehydrated and extremely tense, both of which were exacerbating her symptoms. Once the docs were able to dull her pain with Dilaudid, they focused on relaxing her body so she could get even more relief from the new drugs in her system. She decided that it was wise for her to spend the night in the hospital to try to get some much needed rest while being monitored by the staff. On Friday she was seen by a barrage of specialists who offered many ideas about the source of her pain and how they could relieve it, but all were a bust. After another chest CT, it was determined that there was indeed fluid in her lung which was pressing on her trachea, but it could not be drained because the tumor had caused the lung to collapse.

The nurse requested that she stay another night in the hospital because they needed to work out a pain management plan for her that would be appropriate for use at home. Saturday was spent trying a couple of different medications, none of which did anything but make her a complete zombie who could still feel a great deal of pain. She hopes to be released from the hospital on Sunday with a new plan in place to keep her comfortable. I will try to keep the blog updated with new information as it comes to me.