Cindy asked me to discuss pain with you. I help my cancer patients with pain every day. Our philosophy is that patient's pain is what they say it is, not what the doctor or relatives think it is. I remember when I was a skinny kid and I told my Daddy that I was cold outside in the weather. He always told me I was not cold. I said to myself, I sure feel cold, but I guess my Daddy knows for sure. After caring for my patients, I finally said to myself: Daddy, I really was cold and I know for sure now I was cold outside in that weather. My Daddy could not really feel the cold down into my bones and no one else can feel your pain even if they say they can!

People then tell the patient with cancer that they will be addicted to pain medications. I ask patients, "If you did not have cancer, would you take pain medications?" They tell me, "No". Well, then, I tell them they will never be addicted to pain medications. If our patients suddenly had no cancer, we could take them off all pain medication in just a few days with no residual effects. A few rare cases (1 in 2000) may have trouble, but it was found in a study, these cases were related to previous addictions.