Liu Amei said she felt fine, but her expression revealed she wasn't very comfortable. The deep furrows that occasionally creased her brow were a constant reminder to Du Heng that the woman before him was suffering from the pain caused by the tumor.
However, Du Heng was powerless to help her with this; Liu Amei had to bear the pain herself.
At first, Liu Amei couldn't stop herself from begging Du Heng or other medical staff for a pain-relief injection, but she was always denied.
It wasn't that Liu Amei couldn't afford the injections, but frequent use of painkillers was not advisable.
Western medicine pain-relief injections typically contain analgesic and sedative medications. Prolonged use can lead to dependency. Some painkillers, like morphine, suppress respiration and can cause respiratory depression, over-sedation, and addiction.
For example, some drug addicts, when desperate, would feign extreme pain to get a pain-relief injection at a hospital to satisfy their craving.
