Coping with their physical pain

[Sophicles]

Five weeks ago my Mum (73) suffered a fractured hip just climbing into bed. Up until then she was fit and active in her community. Subsequent tests revealled her bone had been weakened by a tumour, that tumour was a secondary and other tumours have since been found in her lung and at least a couple of other sites. Biopsy was not definitive so they are calling it Cancer of Unknown Primary. She had to have a full hip replacement with a really long implant and she seemed to be doing ok with pain afterwards and just got out of inpatient rehab. She was readmitted to have 5 days of radiotherapy and she has suddenly had severe pain return. It seems everytime I leave her at the hospital a doctor appears to talk to her so I am getting second hand reports of what's going on from my Mum who has had short term memory problems since the GA and is swimming in a sea of Fentanyl.  I am struggling to see her in such acute pain and also struggling to understand whether her pain is hip replacement related or cancer related. She now thinks the radiotherapy is causing her severe pain but surely that can't be the case, isn't radiotherapy supposed to help with pain?

[Katekat]

Hi @Sophicles,

Sorry to hear about your Mum's diagnosis, it must be really hard to see your mother go through all of this

Is it possible for you to go to some of her appointments with her so you can get a feel for what's going on first hand? I think it would be incredibly helpful if you could talk with her oncologist or treatment team.