Still seeking solutions...

Well, there continues to be a little bit of "experimenting" as far as finding the source of Dad's pain is concerned. He had a good night's sleep and a pain free morning, but then told us that he had pain again this afternoon, after eating some lunch. As the "lunch" had consisted of four spoonfuls of soup, his nurse told us that she would be really surprised if that was what was causing the pain. 

She told us he's being given a drug called omeprazole, that is supposed to prevent stomach acidity. 

Graham (my brother) also had omeprazole last week, when taking anti-inflammatories for his knee, and he told us that he'd had a sore stomach all week - though he didn't know if it was from the anti-inflammatories or from the omeprazole. I decided to check the official leaflet that you always get in a box of tablets -  just to see if there might be lactose in the pill. I found that there was an anti-allergy warning on the box, saying that the pills do contain lactose, and when I read the patient information leaflet, I found that "stomach pain, nausea and vomiting" were listed as common side effects of that drug. (Seems a bit strange to me that a pill designed to prevent stomach pain can actually end up causing stomach pain.) 

The leaflet not only warned that omeprazole may be unsuitable for people with suspected lactose intolerance, it also said that it could have adverse effects if used at the same time as a blood thinning drug (Dad's on an anti-coagulant), digoxin (a heart drug that Dad's been on for arrhythmia), sedatives (Dad's being given midazolam as well as morphine) or certain antibiotics (including one that he was taking last week for the pneumonia!) Anyway, I mentioned the omeprazole to his nurse, and she agreed that it's worth trying anything at the moment. Dad complains of feeling nauseous whenever he takes pills, and perhaps the pharmacist can substitute a different tummy pill tomorrow, so that we're trying everything possible to identify the reason for the pain. 

This evening Dad was feeling better again; the pain had subsided and he'd managed to sleep a little before we went back in to see him again. He feels so much better and is much more positive when he's not having to cope with pain... so we're seeking and praying for an answer to what could be causing this.