{"id":778,"date":"2009-08-03T12:47:56","date_gmt":"2009-08-03T11:47:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/?p=778"},"modified":"2009-08-03T12:47:56","modified_gmt":"2009-08-03T11:47:56","slug":"anna-donalds-last-blog","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2009\/08\/03\/anna-donalds-last-blog\/","title":{"rendered":"Anna Donald&#8217;s last blog"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.bmj.com\/channels\/icons\/anna_donald.jpg\" alt=\"Anna Donald\" width=\"162\" height=\"110\" align=\"left\" \/> <em><strong>Anna Donald <\/strong>died on 1 February 2009. The blog below was found on her computer posthumously. At a memorial service for her at UCL on 26 April 2009, a six minute video was shown that was edited from material shot for a documentary and interactive website that will be launched in late 2009. <a title=\"Anna Donald's video\" href=\"http:\/\/www.irispictures.com.au\/annas-memorial-video\/\" target=\"_blank\">Follow this link to watch the video<\/a>.<\/em><!--more--><\/p>\n<p><em><\/em>On Tuesday, 20 January 2009, Anna wrote:<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Oh dear, you are hearing from one tardy blogger. It&#8217;s true that, at times, I&#8217;ve been in truly horrible pain over the past four weeks. But not enough not to blog. The Pain has been something else again, however, so I should probably write about it.<\/p>\n<p>Cancer pain takes many guises, of course. My particular version is still gripping, spasmodic-colicky abdominal pain that just quietly drones on and on in the background, or, alternatively, thrashes about like a Fury, grabbing every bit of me down into a dark, burning, crushing place and won&#8217;t be appeased.<\/p>\n<p>Not that I haven&#8217;t tried. I&#8217;ve taken every pain killer known to us (or so it seems); tried slippery elm; Chinese herbs; acupuncture; massage, and simply lying exhausted in the arms of my husband and parents. My much-appreciated palliative care team continue to chide me for failing to take enough drugs, soon enough. They are probably right. Latest research would suggest that I have an &#8216;attitude problem&#8217; to pain: I don&#8217;t like taking tablets and think I should just grin and bear it until I break. I agree this is a stupid policy and, after several consecutive nights of excruciating pain have adapted it somewhat. So I am now taking, to my mind at least, hefty doses of opiates of one kind or another as well as laxatives and non-steroidals. I&#8217;ve found that paracetamol can be an amazingly effective drug. But it&#8217;s hard not to get constipated and end up dry retching at the least convenient times.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><em><br \/>\n<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Anna Donald died on 1 February 2009. The blog below was found on her computer posthumously. At a memorial service for her at UCL on 26 April 2009, a six [&#8230;]<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"btn btn-secondary understrap-read-more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2009\/08\/03\/anna-donalds-last-blog\/\">More&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[197],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-778","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-from-the-other-side"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Anna Donald&#039;s last blog - The BMJ<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2009\/08\/03\/anna-donalds-last-blog\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Anna Donald&#039;s last blog - The BMJ\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Anna Donald died on 1 February 2009. 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