VANCOUVER -- No one likes pain. It's especially hard seeing children suffer. For young patients with complex pain, though, there are treatment options that go beyond painkillers and can actually be tailored to the child's needs.
Lorne Labelle, father, says, "she would get twitches in her foot and that kind of signalled to us the tumour was growing and causing alot of grief and they were really sharp twitches. They brought her to tears a lot of the times."
9-year old Sara LaBelle has had more than her fair share of pain. She's had treatment for a recurring tumour that began in one of her toes and three amputations, the last one just below her knee.
Sara says, "I tried to keep my leg calm and hold it and try to keep it from twitching."
To help Sara, a pharmacist, physiotherapist, psychologist sat down with her parents to figure out a treatment plan. One of the relaxation techniques they came up with was visualizing a butterfly garden.
Lorne says, "every night she'd visualize these butterflies in the garden and she worked on it every night for quite a long time and it calmed her down."
Sue Bennett, Psychologist of BC Children's Hospital, says, "Largely, it works by the power of distraction, so if they're off somewhere else, they're not focussed on the pain channel, so to speak and they're off feeling good and the relaxing physical components, they end up mastering their pain."
Distraction also helped Sara re-learn how to walk with her prosthesis.
Maria Juricic, physiotherapist, says, "it comes down to pacing with kids with complex gain, we start with very little. Stretching, sitting and walking and we gradually build on that."
Dad says, "it's very reassuring for us that there were so many people involved in making decisions. We had consultations from other hospitals, as well as all parts of the same pain team and we would make the best choices with their help."
The pain strategy worked for Sara. She's back to being active again and doing all the things she loves.
Lorne says, "She's doing swimming, hip hop and gymnastics. We're thrilled."
Sara no longer has any leg pain. Her treatment team says it can't guarantee the same for all patients but with different strategies, children and teenagers will be able to get back to their normal lives.
Wednesday June 21, 2006
