Back pain

Having this back pain and knowing that it's caused by the cancer and not just muscle knots (which are there too) is a bit disconcerting. It's a constant reminder that there is a tumor in there and it's extremely frustrating to know that it can't be taken out. It's hard to be patient and wait for this whole process to work itself out. I had to switch from ibuprofen to EX tylenol because of the biopsy this Friday (although so far it seems to work about the same, which is that it works sometimes and not other times, varying day by day and hour by hour). The last couple nights I've been using a Lidoderm patch (5% Lidocaine) overnight to sleep. I had them from back when I had belly pain after my hysterectomy in 2004 (my lymphedema dr. who is also a pain specialist prescribed them for me but I didn't end up needing them back then, but held onto them). So far anyway they've made sleeping much more comfortable, allowing me to sleep in various positions, particularly on my sides, without waking up in pain.

I've been getting some counsel from various local friends of mine (who are also dealing with cancer) to get a 2nd opinion at Fox Chase Cancer Center. Good advice I think so I'll call next week to see when I can get in. I also sent my old gyn onc (who is a few hours away now- the one who treated me for vulvar cancer) a note getting him up to speed and will get his opinion also. I'm not completely satisfied with my current gyn onc, nor my med onc, both very good drs. but the gyn onc is so cold and the med onc (who is very, very nice) is older and it feels to me like he's biding his time till retirement so I feel like I may not get the more "creative" (I'm not sure if that's the right word exactly) advice I would like (I could be wrong, but that's the sense I get). And I HATE his office (a huge onc practice in the hospital), I really hate it, I feel so depressed in there and very anxious and the thought of doing chemo there again is really depressing. Fox Chase, besides being more cutting edge is supposed to be a much nicer place to have treatment. So, worth exploring anyway. It can take some time to go through the process of getting an appt. though, and I don't want to wait too long to get started on treatment.