Hallelujah! Finally I spoke to the right person – which I should have done all along. The staff at St. Mary’s Hospital in Newport are literally fantastic. Especially the specialist cancer nurses. Okay so I have been on my radium treatment for 3 months now. Although I have had no side effects from that – I have been in considerable pain. Because I had fallen under Southampton care and my GP while I have this treatment I only had them to speak to about anything. I started off taking 8 x paractemaol and 8 x ibuprofen over a day. That didnt work so I was then prescribed co-codamol which didnt touch me. After my 3rd radium treatment the Southampton oncologist said I didnt need a mid way scan which they usually like to do to check everything is going as it should – but my ALP tests showed the cancer cells in my bones had dropped significantly so he felt no need to do the scans – all great. The pain however in my leg, lower back and pelvis wasnt abating. The oncologist there said it may have nothing at all to do with the cancer and that was that – I actually think he thought I was exaggerating. Anyway 2 weeks ago my own gp put me back on Gabapentin – only until th epain is under control. Only it is still there. After another night last night of getting up at 3am in pain this morning I just thought I cant go on like this and phoned the specialist cancer nurses at St. Marys. They were on the case in an instant. So tomorrow they are going to put me on Morphine – only short term but just so that after 3 solid months I can get some relief from it. Also some slow release stuff to make sure I get sleep. They said regardless of whether the pain is from the cancer or not (they think it could actually be severe sciatica) – I shouldnt be in this sort of pain. They will monitor it closely over the next month. Then they may organise some scans themselves just to be on the safe side. Hopefully I will be back to being pain free by then. I actually feel better just from speaking to them and how they immediately took action. The pain hasnt been debilitating the past 3 months but for instance driving all the way to Derbyshire almost killed me pain wise sat in the car seat for ages. Anyway once again I cannot express how brilliant these nurses are and they really do go above and beyond. Maybe its because St Marys is a smaller hospital I dont know – but you dont feel like a number – you feel like they actually care 🙂
23rd April 2025
