Abstract
Imagine you suffer from an advanced malignant lymphoma, and waking up one morning, you feel a stabbing pain that does not go away even when you change your position. There was no discomfort in this place before; after the last checkup at the oncologist’s, you were told that “everything is under control.” This early-morning pain has huge consequences: you begin by palpating the painful region and are not quite sure whether you feel a mild swelling that you had not noticed before. You get up and notice while dressing that your left and right hip does not look symmetrical. At breakfast you do not talk about this with your spouse because you do not wish to alarm her or him after the roller coaster of emotions in the past months. You go to work and try to divert yourself, but still your thoughts return to this pain, which you can feel constantly now that you are aware of it. It is more dull but permanently there. You can hardly concentrate on your work until lunchtime, and you decide to consult your family doctor because you are worried about this possible new tumor that may be flaring up inside you.
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Eychmüller, S. (2015). Definition, Pathophysiology, and Assessment of Pain. In: Alt-Epping, B., Nauck, F. (eds) Palliative Care in Oncology. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-46202-7_4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-46202-7_4
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
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