He had his first epidural for one week, had magnificent pain control, and then it stopped working. The pain physician gave Jack a choice as to what kind of analgisia he wanted and my husband said by far only the epidural. Because there were things we had to do in the time he had left, and he really needed a clear head, and he wanted a clear head. The epidurals are put in in the pain clinic under x-ray guidance because the physician places the catheter in a specific place to catch specific nerves. And if the patient needs a little sedation while they do that, they can have sedation because it does not have to be uncomfortable. When the pain clinic first puts an epidural in, they put it in so the patient can try it for a week and see if they like it. If they do like it, a permanent catheter is put in and this is a catheter that is put in in the operating room. The doctor puts it into the epidural space and then it's tunneled under the skin and a thing is put under the skin so it won't pull out. A temporary one is just taped in and can pull out very easily. Anyone that's going to have it in for a long period of time usually has a permanent one put in. The physician felt that I was adept enough at taking care of epidural catheters that we didn't need a permanent one put in and my husband's disease was going so fast that it wasn't necessary.

Additional Medical Information:

• Epidural