A patient’s power in opioid crisis

Talk to your medical professional about alternatives

There’s absolutely no doubt: the opioid crisis is growing at a staggering rate, and death rates from prescription narcotic abuse and addiction continue to climb. This is particularly true in New Mexico, where the death rate relating to opioid abuse is significantly higher than elsewhere in the United States

But that wasn’t top of mind last September when I was sitting in a Las Cruces doctor’s office and heard the words that would inspire dread in any of us: You have cancer.

Needless to say, I was numb, then absolutely terrified. But there was a shred of good news among the bad: My breast cancer was stage two and treatable. My care team at Cancer Treatment Centers of America in Phoenix quickly put together a treatment plan that involved 16 rounds of chemo, a mastectomy and radiation. Conspicuously absent from that plan? Opioid pain medication.

It wasn’t that I didn’t need or want ways to manage my pain. To the contrary, I worried I’d be in agony as I navigated treatment. But I made a deliberate choice not to take opioids — and now, a little more than a year after diagnosis and treatment began, I can say without hesitation that I’m so thankful to have had the opportunity to make that decision for myself.

During my first meeting with Dr. Vivek Iyer, my pain management doctor at CTCA, I made it very clear that I wanted nothing to do with opioids. I already had what I considered to be poison in my body, and I couldn’t bear the thought of introducing something else. He listened and offered real alternatives. Ultimately, we decided that during my mastectomy, Iyer would place a pain pump between my muscle and skin to slowly release nerve-blocking, nonopioid pain medication over a period of time. It’s like getting a cavity filled at the dentist. Blocking the nerve prevents pain signals from reaching the brain without the potential for addiction. And while my recovery and subsequent radiation treatments were no picnic, I’m proud to say I’ve survived my treatment without taking a single pill.

My care team at CTCA empowered me to participate in my treatment decisions. They gave me a choice and a voice in deciding how I would manage my pain, and I’m so thankful for that. A cancer diagnosis and the mere thought of the treatment journey ahead is difficult enough without the fear of developing a dependency to opioids, losing quality of life or even potentially dying from an overdose.

My advice to those going through cancer treatment — or any painful surgery — is simple: Talk to your doctor. Ask about your pain management options. Advocate for yourself. If there aren’t any options outside of opioids, seek a second opinion to be certain.

Throughout my treatment, I continue to remind myself that this is my today, not my tomorrow. And the short-term choices that we make must be made with our long-term future in mind. I’m so grateful mine does not involve becoming a statistic of the national opioid crisis. Despite that initial and terrifying cancer diagnosis, I know I will come out stronger on the other side.