Hi -

My husband Merle went through treatment for PCa in 1996. He had Lupron for 6
months followed by seed implantation. Everything was fine until January
2004, when his annual PSA came back at 742. He now has advanced prostate
cancer throughout his skeleton.

We have no income, no savings, and no health insurance, so cost is,
unfortunately, a rather large issue for us.
We have applied for SSD, SSI, and Medicaid for him. SSI won't make its first
payment till August. SSI is still processing, and so is Medicaid. So, we're
on a very, ahem, tight budget right now.

My question is about pain medications. We've had people suggest that we go
to an oncologist, or a pain management specialist, but they won't even make
an appointment without either insurance or payment up front. (We're in Palm
Beach County, FL - it's ALL about money here, folks!)

The first thing he was given was percoset. That worked fine for about six
weeks, then it couldn't keep up any more. He was switched to morphine
sulfate. That was also fine for about six weeks, and then it didn't do it.

Our family doctor switched him to methadone; it was okay for the first
couple of days, then he started having hallucinations, which got steadily
worse and very physical. (He's a big guy, six foot and 300 pounds, and could
really hurt himself or someone else.) I called the doctor and she said to
try a smaller dose, so we did that for a couple of days. The hallucinations
got less physical, but they are still there. He hasn't had any rest in
nearly a week now because of them. 24 hours ago he stopped the methadone
altogether and switched back to morphine, but he's still hallucinating some
and the morphine doesn't kill the pain.

Our doctor is supposed to call us this afternoon, and I would love some
input from people who have been there...bearing in mind that whatever is
suggested has to be something for which we can raise the money. Thanks to
all of you for being there.

Linda