Let’s be honest, needles hurt!
During the course of treatment, there were many sources of pain caused by the cancer itself or side effects of chemotherapy. Most of this pain could be managed well with medicine. However, regular needle sticks and IV placements are just a fact of cancer treatment and, let’s be honest, needles hurt! There wasn’t any way around this, and there wasn’t much offered to help the situation.
For my son, IV placements were from the seventh layer of hell. We barely survived it when he had a port because, at least, that was usually a sure thing. But, after the port was removed, his nurses had to repeatedly stab his hands and wrists to find a “good” vein.
It was a living nightmare every single time until I asked, no, INSISTED that he be given a sedative. After his doctor agreed, Justin would take Ativan about an hour before the dreaded event. There was still some anxiety and pain, but the situation was drastically improved.
