Pain Meds

[Guest guest]

Hi All,

Back again. My Mom fell in April and broke her hip. She had

replacement surgery and came out OK after five weeks in rehab. The

day after she got home she fell again. She said her back was sore

but could still walk and move around OK.

It got progressively worse from there with stabbing pains when

getting out of bed or getting onto the toilet. We didn't take her

back to the hospital the day she fell because we figured it was

probably a compression fracture to her spine, which can't really be

treated anyway. She was OK as long as she was still - in bed or in

her chair.

We were trying to get a handle on her pain before we took her in for

a CT scan (that was my decision, I happened to see the doctor and we

agreed that was the best approach. My Dad would not have gone that

route if he'd had the choice). She was on fentanyl patches; one was

not enough and two was too much (2 12mg patches). I cut one in half

to give her one and a half but still too much. Yesterday she was

unresponsive so they took her to the ER and admitted her to the

hospital.

They gave her the CT scan; she has two compression fractures and a

break in her pelvis. She also has a UTI. That one really threw me;

we're always on the lookout for that and have had her tested several

times and came up negative. This time Dad and I agreed it didn't

look like that and it was. I remember Jan saying to always test for

that if things change... and I didn't do it.

Now of course I feel really bad because if it wasn't for me she

already would have had the CT scan last week we would have known

about the pelvis fracture. I feel like she suffered more because of

what I did. But I honestly didn't want her to have to go back to the

hospital, or rehab for that matter. She has stated many times since

she got home that she never wanted to go back. Just moving at all,

as in getting out of the wheelchair and into the car, is such an

ordeal for her.

At any rate, now we are back to what to do about the pain. We tried

lidocaine patches but they didn't do anything. Maybe she could

handle one 12 mg fentanyl patch; it did help some... What about

vicodin? The neurologist mentioned she could have that after her hip

surgery, but she never needed it. They gave her one in rehab but it

was overkill and I told them to stop.

Does anybody have any ideas on managing the pain? The neurologist

wants her to see a pain specialist, but it's an hour away and she's

not going anywhere anytime soon.

Thanks in advance,

Dorene