Pain meds are a pain

Ingrid drove Mary to the MRI facility yesterday, stopping for lunch at the German Bakery in Mountain View. The MRI was the "Imagine yourself trapped in a giant aluminum can while elves stand outside and bang on it with heavy hammers in irregular rhythm for 90 minutes" variety but Mary toughed it out and made it work. The results should be available this week but we probably won't hear from the doctor until after the bone scan that is scheduled for Monday.

The downside is that Mary's digestive track does not play well with the pain meds. Tuesday was a great day for Mary as she started the pain meds and we cut the pills in half so she was on half-dose amounts. Wednesday she went to full sized pills and it was not good. Breakfast did not stay with her and she had strong stomach pain all day long. She did eat a bit of the take-out I brought home and it stayed down. Later last night she was feeling a bit better but that was 14 hours after she took the last pain pill--which she is not going to take again.

This morning as she woke up, she said her stomach felt better and, for the moment, her back was not giving her pain. Let's hope that stays that way all day.

Mary's system does not like narcotics. She has known this for years. When she checks into hospitals, they put big warning bracelets on her to not use morphine et al because of what it does to her digestive system--not only nausea but severe pain in the stomach area even if delivered by IV. And, in spite of this, doctors want to believe it will not happen with this particular narcotic--which is what the doc told us on Monday. Wrong! (For my long-term readers, I refer you to the dilaudid episode after the liver surgery. Click here.)

Mary will talk to the doctor today about the pain meds. If she still needs them, hopefully they can find another solution that won't cause the severe abdominal pain.