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You should expect that your pain can and will be controlled. You and your team must work together to reduce suffering, relieve pain, and enhance your quality of life. Keeping a pain record of all of this may help. Often your health care team will ask you to describe your pain using a number from 0 to 10, with 10 being the worst pain you can imagine and 0 being no pain at all.
Using this pain scale is also a helpful way to describe your response to pain relief measures.
You can find a Daily Pain Diary and a lot more information on pain control online or call us for free copies. The nurse or doctor will assess your pain and figure out the average level or degree of pain you have. There are also many forms of pain medicine, such as long-acting, time-released forms of opioids that are around the clock. These long-acting drugs work by keeping your blood levels of the drug steady, which helps keep your pain under control for long periods of time.
Fast-acting, rescue drugs can be used to quickly control pain. Opioid pain medicines come in many forms that can be given in many different ways. Sometimes, very severe pain may be better controlled with a pain medicine pump which gives the drugs either under the skin subcutaneously or into a vein intravenously, IV. If you need this type of pain control, you can still get it at home.
And some people need much higher doses of opioids than others. It has nothing to do with being unable to withstand pain, nor does it mean that you are a complainer. Some people need less, and some need more to keep pain in check.
This is because the body can become tolerant to a drug, so it has less effect. Needing to increase your pain medicine does not mean that you are going to die soon. In fact, evidence has shown that poor pain relief hastens death. Sometimes other drugs may be used. For instance, certain anti-depressants or anti-convulsants seizure control drugs often work well to help with nerve pain.
Steroids may be used to help with certain types of pain, such as that caused by swelling or inflammation. These medicines are often given along with the opioid drugs. If the patient is not able to talk about the pain they may be having, there are things caregivers can watch for that show pain or discomfort. Some signs of pain they may see include:. Being able to identify these things and give pain medicine as needed helps the caregiver take good care of the patient and keep him or her as comfortable as possible.
With certain types of pain, doctors can do special procedures such as nerve blocks, targeted radiation treatments, or even surgical procedures to control pain. The pain specialist might have some different options to help you. Medicines and medical procedures are not the only ways to help lessen your pain. There are other things you can do. Some people find distractions like music, movies, conversation, or games help.
Using heat, cold, or massage on a painful area can help. Relaxation exercises and meditation can help lessen the pain and lower anxiety for some people.
Keep in mind that for most people with cancer pain these measures alone are not enough to control pain. But, they may help improve comfort when used along with pain medicines. As time goes on your body may seem to be slowing down. You may become more withdrawn and find yourself eating less and losing weight. This is a normal part of the last months of life, but it may be the start of a battle between you and your loved ones.
Food no longer smells good or tastes good. You seem to become full more quickly and are interested in fewer foods. While this is going on, the cancer cells may compete with the normal cells in your body for the nutrients that you do manage to digest. It can be very upsetting to your family to see you eating less. For them, your interest in food may represent your interest in life. They may take this personally and think that you want to leave them or are trying to hasten your death — even unconsciously.
The last few months of your life should not be filled with battles around food. Loss of appetite and being unable to eat happens to most cancer patients before death.
If you are caring for someone who is in the last stages of life, or 1. What happens when someone is dying? (page 3). 2. What kind of care can a dying It is not always know exactly what changes the person you are caring for will their breath rate may . Once the person has died and you have noted the time of death. In "Deep Breath": In "Listen": In "Time Heist" (x4): In "The Caretaker": In "Dark Water": In . The Doctor: He's one of your tin-headed puppets, just like these brutes here. The Doctor: [irritated] She should not have told you any of that. .. Dr Chang: What I'm about to play for you will change your life, and not for the better.
Explain to your loved ones that you deeply appreciate all their efforts to feed you and that you understand their attempts are acts of love. Your body is going through changes that have a direct effect on your appetite. Changes in taste and smell, dry mouth, stomach and bowel changes, shortness of breath, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, constipation — these are just a few of the things that make it harder to eat.
Drug side effects, stress, and spiritual distress are also possible causes of poor appetite. Some causes can be managed with medical treatment. For example, nutritional support can be given in the form of tips on how to get the most out of each bite you take or through supplemental drinks or shakes. There are also medicines that can stimulate your appetite, decrease nausea, and help food move through your stomach more quickly.
You may be able to take small frequent meals or snacks during the day instead of trying to eat full meals 3 times a day. I thought the attack would never end and that was how I was going to die! Even thinking about breathing problems can be scary. You may feel short of breath or like you need to breathe faster and harder than normal. You might feel like you have liquid in your lungs and it makes you want to cough. Often these symptoms come and go. Many people with cancer fear that this problem will get worse as the disease progresses.
There are steps to manage each change in your condition and treat each problem. Like half-broke horses From the lost part of the state We watch in silence And wait by the gate. My Hometown If sweetness had a sound It would sound like my hometown The summer sprinklers turning on The endless ice cream song Cold river rushing by The ducks and geese in flight The silence in between All the sights unseen It would sound like my hometown If sweetness had a sound.
If sweetness had a sound It would sound like my hometown The summer sprinklers turning on The endless ice cream song Cold river rushing by The ducks and geese in flight The silence in between All the sights unseen It would sound like my hometown If sweetness had a sound. Seven bars, one church, heaven is no match for hell In these four blocks of rust piles and abandoned motels Old men flick quarters in the cracks of the boardwalk And the little boys learn to cuss before they can talk.
Home is the needle and thread For the hole in the lifeboat That it put you in And it leaves its mark All stamped with lead In the lines and the grime Inside your skin.
Pages Pages fall like drops from melting eaves Pages underfoot like autumn leaves While I search for the words to make things right Buried words always hidden from sight. Here with Me If you were here with me You would love the stars I see Ancient city in the sky You would love the way they shine. If you were here with me You would tell me patiently Not to miss you so much Or your sweet gentle touch. I know you would want for me All the happiness you would bring If you were here with me If you were here with me. I set true north by you And so all directions too Songbird what did I do before you What did I do before you.
Oh songbird in my weariest day A few clear notes is all I need And I see without warning a precious ray Of magic in each ordinary thing.
You illuminate, renew, Take the sad out of the blue Songbird what would I do without you What would I do without you. All songs written by Eilen Jewell I Remember You I remember you You were full of broken bones I tried to bring you cigarettes You said just leave me alone I remember you You were locked in a padded room I tried to teach you solitaire You just hollered at the moon I remember you I remember you. Queen of the Minor Key The day I was born a gypsy looked at me She told my mama she could easily see Just how bright my future would be For I was gonna be royalty.
Santa Fe You picked up a broken bottle In case anyone gave us any trouble And we walked all the way back to Cortez. Little boy down the street We all heard you mournfully Call again and again for Roberta Roberta…. They were warning signs, warning signs, warning signs They told me you were evil but I want you for mine.
He appeared to be about two years of age A really freaky thing to see He was bragging about his sawed-off six gauge Hidden right up his tattered sleeve. He fired off a few hot rounds Right into the sorry crowd No blood, no gore, no one hit the ground They all just fell in love With whoever they happened to be around. Another day another highway An endless ribbon of blue My life is a long road Winding slowly back to you.
Home to Me Wind carries wildfire, wind carries the seeds Wind will carry my love home to me It drove him away on a southern breeze Wind will bring my love home to me.
The sun brings the daylight, sun brings the heat Sun will bring my love home to me It drove him away with a million degrees Sun will bring my love home to me. The night wind weeps, a high barren sound My love sleeps beneath the bitter ground And on his breast his cold hands hold, In lonesome rest, his sweet rose. Well, you make it shake it and I know you like it babe Well, you make it shake it and I know I like it babe Shake, shake, shake, shake, shake baby Shake, shake, shake, shake, shake baby. See the highway sign Where the sages grow The tumbleweeds they tumble And the dust clouds roll.
I want to gather them all up Follow the threads of their soul To the end Where it all feels like home. Gillon aka Tommy Scott, M. Well, the only thing that moves Is the laundry on the line And a dusty dog that bites Just to kill the time. I prefer hell to nowhere at all It stops and the whole thing falls Wake me now or make me stay Inside this empty weight This empty weight. They turn their backs And they put me out They build me up Just to bring me down Like pieces of pages and scattered shreds Tattered thoughts and worn-out threads Torn up words and loose change Burnt up bits of cellophane Everywhere, everywhere I go Everywhere, everywhere I go.
Oooh codeine arms, Wrap around me safe and warm Under the light of your sweet charms Save me, save me codeine arms.