Things have changed for the worse. Specifically, my bone pain has increased and is currently not under control at an acceptable level. Until last Wednesday, March 2, I was using a 50 micrograms of Fentanyl (which is 100 times more powerful per amount than morphine) for bone pain and 10-20 milligrams of Oxycodone per day for breakthrough pain. My pain was controlled at about a 2 on a scale of 0-10 where 10 is extreme incapacitating pain like I felt last summer. This level of pain (2) didn't stop me from doing anything. Now I am using 100 micrograms of Fentanyl and 40-80 milligrams of Oxycodone for breakthrough pain. My bone pain is higher and more variable now, around 8 when I get up, dipping to around 5 in the early afternoon, and then rising to around 8 at bedtime. My hips and thighs are the most painful areas, which makes me walk slowly and with a limp (and lately with crutches). A disadvantage of the increased painkillers is that it makes it difficult to maintain mental focus, for example, while driving.

I am having chemotherapy today in about an hour. I know I said before that I was planning to stop all chemo, but the increase in bone pain has scrambled those calculations. On my oncologist's recommendation, I am switching from the FOLFIRI regimen to FOLFOX. We need to try something different to have hope.