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SOme more dumb questions


Elaine

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Hi

I have an appointment coming up and I know I will be asked the following:

Do you have any bone, liver or adrenal pain.

I have no clue. Yes I have some mildish pain here and there, but I don't know if it is bone pain or liver pain or heaven knows what adrenal pain is.

The last time I told him I didn't know-- could he please be more specific, I go a "look" --lol. I don't like the "look"--and then he said, "You know like when you break a bone." I have never broken a bone.

I looked up bone pain/cancer/mets on the Internet and it always just says, "bone pain."--like everyone knows what bone pain is.

I looked up liver mets. And it seemed non-specific too, and since NONE of the symptoms of lung cancer that are readily known about are symptoms I had, I don't trust what I read anymore--lol.

So anyway, any help would be appreciated. You can write it here for the "world to see" or PM me.

And even a dumber question, is this: What do people mean by wheezing. I can FORCE myself to wheeze, but so can my 23 year old son. Is that wheezing?

Sorry to be so thick.

Thanks

Elaine

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Making that kind of noise when you inhale is stridor, when you exhale is wheezing. When they refer to "bone pain" I suspect what they mean is very sharp, acute, intense pain that does not abate. Pain in the adrenal gland(s) would be pain you could feel in the upper quadrants of the abdomen. (adrenals are located at the top of each of your kidneys). Pain in the liver would be in the upper right front quadrant of the abodomen, might radiate into the center of the abdomen and over small space on the left upper abdomen.

I'm glad you are doing okay. Not being in pain is a good thing. And you aren't "dense". :wink:

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Well I'm dense, I sure didn't know that Fay.

Story time:

There is also my mother's definition of bone pain whiich is that it hurts so much you can't talk. When I was in 5th grade I was playing Superman and missed the chair I was flying into and crash landed. I went to my mom and told her I thought I broke my arm, her response was that if I had broken my arm I wouldn't be able to say, "I broke my arm," cause it would hurt so much. This went on all night like an Abbott and Costello routine. I'd say I broke my arm, she'd say you couldn't say the words if you broke your arm. :roll: My dad had pity on me the next day and took me for an x-ray. It was broken.

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Elaine,

I have never broke a bone, but I do have bone mets. The "bad" bone met in my right thigh didn't cause any pain. But, the met in my sternum, felt like I had pulled a muscle from coughing or laughing too hard. If you feel like you have a pulled muscle or any discomfort, even minor, get it looked at.

Better safe than sorry. I do have acute pain in my shoulder that is nothing (at least cancer related, I rolled my car when I was 22 and all stress lands there)

Good luck at you appt. hope everything goes well.

Jerrye

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As Fay says, if you have bone mets causing pain, it would be acute and very strong and not letting up. Sounds like you don't have that. My wife would tell you that you would definitely know if you had bone pain.

And, there are no dumb questions here -- only those that aren't asked. Best to you. Don

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Elaine,

I don't know if we were supposed to laugh, but I did:

I looked up bone pain/cancer/mets on the Internet and it always just says, "bone pain."--like everyone knows what bone pain is.

Great sarcasm there girl. It's like looking up a word in the dictionary and then you have to look up the words in the definition . . . . . . and on it goes.

I'm sorry, I can't answer ANY of your questions, so I'm the one that's dense. I asked some dillies when I joined - it made me crazy wanting to know what some of the abbreviations meant. With great pains and much diligence, I figured out some of them on my own, but finally choked on my ego and just asked about the rest. :lol::lol:

I guess Fay really answered your questions, but I just had to tell you that you made me laugh.

Love,

Peggy

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Elaine,

I remember my Dad had bone mets from lung cancer, and that he said it was the most intense pain he had ever felt. It was in his shoulder and spine. The pain was unrelenting. He said that it was so deep that no med could reach it. Of course this was 19 years ago, and meds have changed quite a bit. He was given radiation for pain and moraphine. I use to massage his shoulder to help alieve the pain, knowing it was only psychologically helping him. Also. for those of you on taxol, don't forget that this chemo makes your joints hurt as if you had bone mets too.

cheryl

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Thanks all

Well, what I have so far is this:

Bone pain/mets are unrelenting, deep pain or it is discomfort like a muscle ache or it is no pain at all. It is perfectly clear to me now--lol.

Adrenals??? Front or back?? Liver--just about any place in upper stomach--lol.

Ever wish you could just install a scan in the family room--lol. Complete with technician and reader???

Sure would come in handy and would alleviate so darn much--wait, worry and time!!

I do have pain, and by gosh it fits into at least a few of the categories!!!

And now I have a really bad headache. Better add an MRI to my wish list

Elaine

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Sounds like Fay pretty much summed it up for you. I just wanted to add that my Dad has spinal mets and he does not have that sharp, unending pain. In the last month, he has started having some back pain. He describes it as a pulled muscle. It bothers him when he bends over or twists to the side. It also bothers him a little during the night. Now, the never ending pain may hit us soon............I sure hope not. I just wanted to let you know that Dad's bone pain did not start out like some do. Best wishes!!

Angie

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Well, Elaine, your fact finding mission proved yet again that the whole LC thing is a "personal" disease. Differing levels of pain, differing levels of tolerance...you'll just have to become a HYPERchondriac like the rest of us who run to the doctor when we get the SNIFFLES, for cryin' out loud. If it weren't for my primary care doctor ENFORCING that I call her for ANYTHING, I'd feel pretty darn stupid for taking appointment time with allergies or a head cold... Oh, okay, I STILL feel pretty darn stupid for taking appointment time...

Just tell 'em when YOU have pains that YOU "think it may be mets" and let 'em scan you (better safe than sorry, right?) So what if you're wrong, it's not like you're a DOCTOR or something...

ROCHELLE! Just a question...when Karma stepped in and the Jillenator broke your mother's arm, could MOM speak and say "I think it's broken"?? It IS true, Karma kicks *ss! :roll: (also sounds like Jillenator doesn't come by anything strange....) :roll:

Take care, and Elaine, hope that there's something like...aspirin...for the pain you are feeling and it has nothing to do with bones, adrenals, liver, etc.

Becky

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Ry

Your story made me laugh and remember....

If one of us kids thought we broke a bone, he'd say, "You will KNOW if your bone is broken because it will scream at you."

Well none of my bones ever screamed, but now I know some bones whisper, which I already suspected, anyway.

I don't know if you saw the post whereby I asked forgiveness (sort of) for not getting my hall pass. So again, I sort of ask for forgiveness.

Elaine

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WOW!!!!!

FAY:I didn't know that.Thank you.I'm a stridorer and a wheezer.Ha Ha.

Elaine: You are not dense or thick-Every time any of us get pains we think the worst.Again better safe than sorry.I'm the dense one,I had no idea where the adrenals were.Thanks again Fay.

Becky:Every time you post I laugh then stridor then wheeze.Thank you too.

Ry: thank you too.Now I'll know when my bones are broken.

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This will only make sense if you have followed the thread. Called Dr. and apparently, my nurse went to the same school of bone pain as Ry's mom and my dad. I tried explaining the pain I do have which is the BillFatherofANgie type pain in my left back shoulder area. And then there's this new headache I have.... oh yes, the one I had three weeks ago is gone (unless it's hiding under this one) and remember those crickets that were chirping in my head for four weeks and then left--seems they are back from time to time, today for example. And then this pain in the upper right quadrant that feels like you do after running, well I can assure you I haven't been running, so why do I have this pain--is THIS liver pain or could it be adrenal pain? No , it's not constant, but I can summon the pain anytime I want. ANd to end the conversation--No I have no pain in my A*s (not yet) but I think I am being one--Hate to start your day off this way, but..... Sure I will wait for a call back......

Elaine

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Becky: When my mom fell John went in to pick up the Jillinator. My mom told him she had fallen and her shoulder was sore. He told her if it was broken she'd be in a lot more pain... yes there is a law of karma. :wink: I was real tempted the next day in the ER to say, You couldn't talk if it was broken!"

Frank: You must have been up all night typing that message, that's a long one for you.

Elaine, all kidding aside you should have had a bone scan early on so they know what they are dealing with. John had one shortly after diagnosis.

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Ry

I did have a bone scan early on, and the whole thing lit up or whatever it does because of another condition, hypertrophic pulmonary osteoarthropy--which made the reading somewhat difficult. As is usual, the reader covered his/her a@@ by saying uptake here and there and everywhere but probably not cancer, but maybe......

Elaine

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I guess you could classify me as a "wheezer" -- I wheezed quite a bit after surgery (especially after getting out of the shower for some reason). I would take a deep breath and sound like a violin (a very badly played violin). It eventually went away, but after completing radiation, it came back w/ a vengance. Again, it sounded like my chest/throat was whistling or playing violin. Occasionally it would happen at work when I took a deep breath. If it wasn't so annoying, it would have been funny!

Heather

ps -- I didn't think your questions were dumb at all -- I have wondered those same things myself!

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Guest Phyllis

Hi, It is confusing when they ask you about pain. My left shoulder hurts off and on pretty intensely. The docs say my tumors would not cause that but it is funny how it disappears when the tumors shrink. I had a pinched nerve in my lower back for almost a year that freaked me out. I kept asking my nurse about it who was great. She finally sent me an e-mail with all of these questions about the pain radiating down my leg, etc. By the time I got them all answered the pain was gone. Of course my whole body hurts from the carbo/taxol but I hope that is a good thing. I have CT scans on the 23rd and am already freaking out.

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Elaine,

Here's something else to throw in the mix - that shoulder pain in the back? I had that...thought it was the way I was sleeping (I'd wake up with the pins/needles thing in the middle of the night, realize I was lying on my left shoulder and have to change positions to get back to sleep)... Talked to my doctor, she sent me for a gall bladder ultrasound AND function test...and the darn thing wasn't working! I had my gall bladder out and most of that shoulder pain has disappeared. I have no clue why the pain migrates UP from down there (gall bladder is down by the ol' liver) but it does...

Liver - my oncologist does that "feel for mets" and pokes around below my rib cage in the "pudge". The place that is tender? THAT'S your liver - the top of it. Right hand side...

Factors in gall bladder issues - 4 F's - Forty-ish, Female, Fertile, "Fluffy"... Could be your shoulder pain - I know, weird...

No pain in the rear, huh? I've had an onset of a horrible hemmorhoid lately, was hoping it wasn't something common! :roll:

Love ya, girl! Hope them bones ain't a whisperin' nothin', neither!

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Gerbil et al:

That would be a great idea. But also some common way to describe pain and its location (which sometimes seems so elusive) Some kind of checklist.. Something!!! But I also know that we "feel" pain differently, but can it really be THAT different???

I must stop thinking about it cos it is driving me insane today. Still no callback.

Elaine

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My dad kept wondering when the spinal pain (where he'd had a tumor removed in Feb) was going to end, and turns out it probably was the bad gall bladder (that he had removed last month) causing the pain, because now it's pretty much gone. Go figure.

Also, after this last surgery, he had some wheezing -- I had always thought wheezing was gasping for air, but the violin description sounds about right -- real squeaky. In fact, he told the nurse that right after the surgery he thought he was hallucinating from the pain medication because it sounded like babies crying from inside the call monitor - later we figured out it was probably the wheezing, which went away after he did all those breathing exercises they make you do.

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