An 8 is great progress already and if it's only in her arm, I would think she has an excellent chance at keeping it there since it sounds like it's been getting treated before it's spread. Mine got the chance to spread down my entire life side from head to toe through ten years of mis diagnosis so if i ketmaine can do as much as it has for me, I'm sure it can do wonders for your daughter.
It does tend to reach a plateau at times in the hospital tho but then after coming home, day after day and week after week, you can see that 8 go to a 0 so even if she leaves the hospital still at 8, please do not lose hope as my fiance and I almost had. My Dr made it very clear he's seen people on day 2 have dramatic reductions and others who seemed to have a light bulb seemed to off two week after treatment.
Also, going home from a week in bed is not the same as out patient treatments and she will be uncomfortable and likely have some side effects for few days or so and it's all very normal but unfortunatly stuff Dr's don't have time to tell you about in advance so if you have questions, keep asking, I remember them all well.
If her pain level hits that plateau, instead of asking her pain level, if you can, just try to distract her and keep her spirits up. Nothing upset me more then when I saw the look of fear and concern on my fiance's face as he spoke with my Dr on day 4.
When I saw my Dr a 6 wks later, he was shocked at how well I was doing so you really never know.
The blocks if done in the hospital are usually just more for exploratory means to see if they can try to pinpoint the source but if it is only in her arm, they probably wouldnt do it.
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Originally Posted by betsykk
Dr is from pain mgmt. I am not sure if she is the anesthesiologist or if there is someone else handling that. It is a teaching hospital so of course she has many different practices stopping in frequently.
She has someone with her when she wants but finds it better to go it alone most of the time (at GW they do not want anyone down there so that is what she is used to). She is tired most of the time as it is, being sleep deprieved and then all the ketamine (she gets 40mg).
No blocks have been mentioned and that is interesting. She has it in her right arm only. I had not thought about that since the stellate/brachial blocks in the past have been ineffective.
It does seem from all that I am reading that day 3 seems to be the day you see the most pain reduction. she is down to an 8 right now. I am hoping it will go much lower.
thanks for all of your help. it is great to talk to someone who has already been through this.
QUOTE=Reddawn600;739491]Where is she having the procedure done? Is her Doctor an anesthesiologist, neurologist or other?
Is she allowed to keep someone with her 24 hrs a day and do you know what dose of ketamine she is receiving? Are they pushing it up to see how much she can handle before they back her down? Having any lumbar or cervical nerve blocks or epidurals during the procedure?
Part if it in my experience can also depend on how much medication she was on before the procedure and how much they have to or want to wean her off of during it.
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