Not exactly pain-free

I had my group therapy thing this afternoon, so we left the cottage this morning to come back to Waterloo. We'll go back there tomorrow night, after I've had my hair cut and see the oncologist.

I get to get the CT results from the oncologist tomorrow, although of course I already know them :) Still, this will be an opportunity to get the next steps underway, as well as to talk to him about the pain. My family dr will also try stuff for the pain, as I want to stay off the narcotics for as long as possible. The 650mg of coated aspirin 4x/day isn't working. It's better than nothing, and it's better than the Arthotec (which doesn't work at all), but it still isn't enough. I know that aspirin is the first painkiller they give for mild pain, but I'm pretty sure that we're out of the realm of mild pain and into moderate pain. The aspirin takes the pain from moderate to mild; the Arthrotec has no effect on the pain, either alone or with the aspirin.

I'm a little concerned at how quickly the pain has been getting worse. I can't lie on my right side at night now because it makes the pain flare up. I'm also having trouble with seatbelts. They cross my sternum at almost the exact place where it hurts. That's why, for the longest time, I thought (ok, hoped) that I'd hurt my sternum while driving somehow. So, you might ask, why are we driving back and forth to the cottage? Because going to the cottage is fun and I refuse to give up things I like, even if I'm in pain right now :). It's easier if Ian drives and I'm a passenger, so I might make him do some or all of the driving over the next few days.