My mom was just diagnosed at 71 and underwent ERCP . . .

Three weeks ago, my mom was feeling better than she has in a long time, but on a routine physical exam, was found to have an elevation in her liver levels. She was scheduled for an ERCP on 08/17/07, and was told it would be an overnight procedure. Well, she was worse the next day, and 2 days after the procedure was told the plastic stents were not working. She was scheduled for a 2nd ERCP to replace the plastic stents with metal ones. When they got inside to do this, they found massive bleeding with clots the size of a small banana. They could not locate the source of the bleeding, but were able to put the metal stents in. She was transferred to the ICU and spent a couple of days in their unit. She went in for an angiogram this morning, and was told by the technician that the metal stents were not draining, possibly due to blood clots. We have not heard the results from the doctor yet and are very frustrated because the itching and jaundice is so bad she is in such pain.

Does anyone know how long a person can survive without the ability to drain the bile from the system? We know this is a terminal condition, and she does not want to opt for chemotherapy, but we have family that would like to see her before she passes away that live in various parts of the country, but we don’t have any idea the life expectancy if the stenting does not work and they cannot find a cause for the bleeding. Do we call in the family yet? Do we have days, weeks, months??? Is there any way to combat the itching without the bile draining?

Thanks for any of you who can help.