For many people, the scariest part of a cancer is the threat of pain . It is important to emphasize that pain is treatable. Significant advances in pain control have been made over the last decade. Many studies have shown that the fear of pain, including the fear that it will worsen, can make people perceive it as more severe. But when people know that they have options for treating their pain, they often begin to perceive it as less severe.
Cancer can cause pain in several different ways.
However, not all cancer patients are good candidates for debulking surgery. Frequently, irradiating the bone treats this type of pain. The radiation therapy destroys most of the tumor cells, allowing the bone to start healing. Pain can also occur when cancer grows directly into a nerve, making the person feel like pain is coming from any place that nerve goes. Sometimes a nerve block, or the process of making the whole nerve numb, can be used to treat this type of pain.