Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Persistence can pay off in pain relief

Finding the best way to contain Bueti's pain took a bit of trial and error. After her mastectomy and reconstructive surgery, her doctors first tried morphine and then Percoset, but the nagging side effects were hampering her recovery. Eventually her surgical pain and the joint pain to come with chemotherapy were reined in by Extra Strength Tylenol.

"It took a little while," she says. But Bueti was especially conscious of keeping her doctors in the loop: At the time of her treatment she was working as an occupational therapist at a rehabilitation facility, and she had seen first-hand how pain "can interfere with patients' therapy and getting better."

Alleviating those aches allowed Bueti to carry on with day-to-day tasks such as showering and dressing as well as resume activities such as walking and spending time with friends, which went a long way toward helping her "emotionally tolerate" her treatment. Not only were they good distractions, Bueti says, they also "provided a sense of normalcy for me and made me feel like I was still living."

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