Hi Everyone
Still waiting to begin my treatment and have NSCLC in my left lung and lymph nodes. There is a small pleural effusion but my oncologist isn't too worried about that as he reckons its mostly due to collapsed upper left lobe. I am getting a fair bit of pain down the centre of my chest which is usually more troublesome when i have been for tests, scans echo's etc. When the nurse did my echo-cardiogram one place was extremely painful, which i told her but she just said it had to be done. I was told to take regular paracetamol by my original consultant during my 2 week pathway and mostly it does the trick. What does anyone else do to relieve pain in this area? When I am 'left alone' I am usually fine! I do get breathless and also over the last couple of days been getting left shoulder pain too. Any advice would be appreciated. Tried ringing my lung nurse but i can never seem to reach anyone on Fridays. Thanks in advance.
Edit: As luck would have it, and purely by coincidence, my GP called me today. Discussed my pain with him and have been prescribed additional Tramadol alongside my Paracetamol when required. I do find it strange though that the hospitals do not fully inform the referring GP as to findings and treatment plans. He had only been notified of planned tests but not the results as part of the initial two week pathway.
Sally
Hi Sally, it is so frustrating waiting to start treatment. I am glad the tramadol is helping with the pain.
All test results will be sent to your GP, but it is the reporting of tests and scans that take the time. As you haven't started treatment yet, I guess they haven't had the MDT meeting yet? I wouldn't expect your GP to be informed before this point.
Hope you are feeling more comfortable now on the tramadol.
My apologies, because you said you were waiting to start treatment I didn’t think you had got that far.
I am glad you are feeling better today and have not had to take the tramadol yet. It made me very sleepy when I took it.
I don’t know why these things take so long to reach the GP. Especially as you are having radiotherapy, It’s all done electronically these days too.
Take care
