Pain is intense with cancer and it should be controlled. I think right at the very beginning of his illness my husband was going to be a macho man and fight the pain. He wouldn't push his little button to increase the amount of drug he was getting. Because he felt when the pain got worse, the medicine wouldn't work. It had to be made very clear to him that the medicine could be increased and that further on down the line his pain could still be managed. We did quite a bit of talking, trying to get him to understand that it is important to have pain control. You will feel better with the pain control. You're not less of a man because you can't control your pain. That didn't come easy.

Additional Medical Information:

• Tolerance
• Reluctance to report pain