My wife is having lower back pain... concerned

I had degenerated disk issues prior to diagnosis which have flared periodically and caused intense pain since so I understand your concern, of course the mind always goes to the worst case scenario. I am so sorry that you are dealing with this at such a young age, with a young child. I am wondering if what your wife may be experiencing is late-onset pain from chemo. Seeing that she is TN, did she have a taxane drug as part of her cocktail - and was it the last drug? Sometimes you can have neuropathy or bone pain that occurs after chemo is done, particularly from taxanes (Taxol, Taxotere and Abraxane), even if you didn't experience it during chemo itself. I would certainly address this with your MO since the pain has lasted this long, and is so close to treatment. Wishing you and your family the best.

Ken,

I've been dealing with sciatic pain from a herniated disc for a few years before being diagnosed with breast cancer. Your wife might have tweaked her back picking up your daughter.

When I have sciatic pain, the best thing I've found is to get into a heel drop position with my back against the wall. I put a foot stool near the wall and put the balls of my feet on the stool. Feet are hip width apart with outer foot perpendicular to the wall. I try to touch the wall with my calves and shoulder blades. I stay in this position for several minutes (3-10 minutes).

I only recently learned this after reading about postural alignment exercises based on the Egoscue method. There are videos online on other exercises. Some are less than 15 minutes long.

I'm so sorry to hear she's in so much pain. Motrin only lasts 4-6 hours. She needs prescription meds so she can sleep through the night.

When I had extreme nerve and muscle pain, I was given prescription pain, muscle relaxant, and anti-inflammatory meds as well as Lyrica (for the nerve pain). I was down to just Flexeril and Lyrica, but last month I dropped the Flexeril when I found the postural alignment exercises. I also lowered the Lyrica dose, but won't drop it while I'm on Taxol (on steroid high now).

I'm not kidding when I say that 5-10 minutes of the heel drop against the wall make the pain go away faster than the meds. My pain can go from my butt down to my foot sometimes, but it usually stops mid-hamstring. I will do the heel drop in the morning when I wake and after anything that causes pain to return. I had 3 years of different therapists who never showed me this method, but all of them would tell me that my hips were out of alignment.

As to the source of the pain, if this started with your wife picking up your daughter, then she may have strained some muscles that can also cause sciatic pain. Since your daughter is a toddler, your wife probably continues to pick her up. I know I did the same when I hurt my wrist while my kids were young. Can't avoid it all the time. So, it may take time to heal, but it's also prone to re-injury. Radiation treatments aren't helpful to back muscle strain either.

I hope the PET scan is clear. I know I had the same worry given I had similar pain.

Please take care of yourself as well.