Hi at my last CT scan it showed a fair amount of tumour progression including a substantial enlarged lymph node under my left arm. i have lung cancer with mets in various places. mostly in the left side of my body i was suffering from severe shoulder pain which meant raising my arm above my head for the scan excruciatingly painful. i told the radiographer who suggested holding my myrleft hand with my right one hand to keep it in position for the duration of the scan I tried to tell him how painful it was but he just said 'I'll try to be very quick. after i left in floods of tears of pain and anxiety, subsequently i lost all grip (which is getting worse) in my hand when i had my oncologist review he said the enlarged Lymph node most probably is pinching the nerve that radiates down that arm. i am now on Oxycodone (powerful morphin like pain killers- getting used to them and the in evitable side effects. My main question is has anyone experienced anything similar. if so. is there an alternative to having to raise the arms above the head which i cant actually do . with the current most troublesome tumour just below the arm. when i asked my oncologist if i would be asked to raise my arms again he just looked at me sympathetically putting a sympathetic hand on my knee. empathetic perhaps but not a real answer I hope this makes sense.
Treatment wise the Oncologist cant attempt further radio therapy in that area as it is too close to where i had previous radiotherapy. the only chance is to try to use my 3rd type of chemo to shrink it enough to relieve pressure on the nerve. any suggestions welcome to help me with the inevitable future scans.
Like Remoh says, other alternatives . How are you able to bring up solutions?. I had something similar with MRI. I have stenosis in spine upper and lower made worse by disease infiltration. I was in agony. The radiologist just said grin and bear it!. I dont expect empathy but i felt like a conveyor belt of people waiting. I was in agony for 45 minutes. Laying flat is difficult. Needless to say, those days are behind me now. I hope a solution is found.
