ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION The word cancer means ‘crab’ and was given to the disease because of its tenacity, a singular ability to cling to its victim like a crab’s claws clinging to its prey. The all-important reality of cancer pain is witnessed in John Steinbeck’s book, The Grapes of Wrath, where the character Mrs. Wilson, who is dying of cancer, states, ‘I’m jus’ pain covered in skin’1.
