shoulder pain

[LindaMRG]

My father began having this pain in his right shoulder. Xray was clear, we were so relieved. But today radiation onc said he wants to see the last bone scan which was in June. (He also had a PET in late Sept). He may order another bone scan.

Ive been reading all past posts regarding this and some of you say that shoulder pain was what alerted you to the cancer,so maybe it could just be the tumor aggravating a nerve and not mets? I felt our prayers were answered that Xray done yesterday was clear.

He feels good all day, he's been Christmas shopping, running errands, etc. and then when he sits to relax at night and when he's in bed it hurts a lot. Theyve given him a few different things to try but it doesnt help a lot at night except for numbing it a bit.

Anything guys?

[Guest JasonChang]

Linda,

My father might have experienced the same type of pain that you are describing. His oncologist's also did scans and a bone scan to check if there were met's in the location with the most pain. However, nothing ever showed evidence of mets to his shoulder. Finally, after a few weeks of the pain increasing, it came to a point that it was unbearable. They concluded that the pleural effusion and tumor that was pressing on his diaphragm was the cause of the pain to the shoulder. And after removing the fluid from his pleural cavity, his pain to the shoulder subsided. This may or may not be relevant to your situation, but you might want to run that by your dads doctor.

[bobmc]

Hi Linda,

Having almost the exact same symtoms your dad is. Although the pain is more behind or along the right shoulder blade and just to the right of the spine. It is severe at night and wakes me up. It's also getting worse during the day. I've just had three MRI's. They were in fact taken today of the brain, spine and lumbar region. I suggest your dad speak to his doc, an x- ray will not cut it, nor will bone scans or ct scans. I've had them all in the last few weeks. I've also run the gamut on pain meds and am right now on vicodin which controls it pretty good but still use Tylenol PM to help with the sleep.

Hope this helps and so glad we don't have to do this alone!!

God bless and be well

Bobmc- NSCLC- stageIIB- left pneumonectomy- 5/2/01

MRI's of the brain & spine taken 12/18- anxiously awaiting results

" absolutely insist on enjoying life today!"

[LindaMRG]

Thank you both for responding to my posts. Bob, Ive been praying for good results for all your tests. We went to rad oncs today and he told us he feels its something muscular; he gave him muscle relaxers that can only be taken for three weeks; they'll up the dose a bit if they have to. My father thinks he may have hurt something during radiation when he had to lay in a position too long; he remembers it hurting his shoulder and causing tension. They referred to his bone scan taken early June, and the xray; He is fine all day; he says the ache is there but tolerable, its at night that he cant get comfortable and is in pain. He sleeps only little bits during the night.

Bob, do you think you couldve hurt yourself in some way, even awhile back that could be a delayed reaction?

I did have a list of questions for the onc based on what I read here,but was so relieved when he said this is what he thought it was, I didnt go any further.

Thanks again, both of you for your input, it does help to know we are not alone.

[kimblanchard]

Another strong vote for an MRI, of the spine (including the lumbar region) and scapulae, in response to the pain as described.

With the MRI results, you can then be referred to the appropriate Specialist(s) to discuss potential treatment(s).

(The other goal is to absolutely positively rule out any % of a bone met.)