Becoming dependent

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The next appointment was 4 weeks after the last. However, towards the end of the third week, the pain in his legs spiked up and there were both hugely swollen.He had constipation for 3 straight mornings too. His left leg weakened further such that he wasn't able to get onto and off the lazy chair (where he rested and slept) unassisted. Basically, it was painful for him to transit from sitting to standing and vice versa. He couldn't wash past his thighs during bath. He needed help to wear pants too (he's now using sarong). For those days, he had to take Oxynorm 5 to 7 times a day.

Hence, we both decided to do a walk-in, a week earlier than the appointment date, to first consult the PCU doctor and the oncologist if needed.

The PCU doctor's main concern was to solve the constipation issue because it reduced the effectiveness of the painkiller. It was at this point, I asked and found out that dad didn't take as much fruits and vegetables as he used to and so that might explained this constipation. The doctor highly recommended my dad to be warded in the Palliative Ward so that she could swiftly change and/or add medicine if the prevailing ones were not working. Dad, however, was terrified of staying in hospital and so we had to do the very tiring option: visit her everyday as long as the medicine wasn't working. Haiz.

These were the changes made:
  • Fentanyl patch, to replace Oxycontin. Need a clean area to place the patch (wtih no hair or trimmed hair). New patch on different area. Old patch to be flushed down the toilet bowl. Change every 3 days. 
  • Since Fentanyl need sometime to kick in, for the first night, dad still needed to take Oxycontin one last time.
  • Just for the first night, take 6 tablets of bisacodyl at one go.
Fortunately, at about 1.30am, my dad manage to clear the constipation and the next day, pooed two more times. So we didn't need to travel for 45-80mins to consult the PCU doctor.

Soon after, his leg pain was manageable and gained some strength but still not enough for him to independently get onto bed/lazy chair and to wear pants. The swelling of his legs remained as huge. In fact, there was clear yellow liquid coming out of it :(

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