New to Site – My Aunt
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Dear Tina,
I am so sorry to hear of the passing of your aunt, please accept my sincere condolences. I too am glad to hear that she did not suffer for long and she is in pain no more. We are all here for you and having lost my dad to this cancer I know the pain that you feel right now. My thoughts are with you and your family right now.
Hugs,
Gavin
I am so sorry to hear about your Aunt. You and your family must have been a great joy to her. My sincere condolences to you and your family.
-Randi-
Dear Truby,
I am so sorry that your aunt has passed but I understand your relief that she did not have to suffer any longer.
You have been a great support for your family and Aunt.
X
My aunt is dancing with angels. She passed away last night. It is so hard and sad but I am truly thankful that she did not have to suffer for long. The entire family was with her yesterday. I had read that many times loved ones will wait to pass until family has left so I shared this with my family. Since we had been with her all day we said our good byes and decided to go home. Everybody had left by 8:04 and she took her last breathe at 8:12 in her home thanks to Hospice. My Mom’s friend said that was her last gift to us….waiting to go until we left. I do truly appreciate her gift! She will forever be missed and in our hearts! I hope they find a cure soon!!!
Keeping everybody that has been touched with this cancer in any way in my prayers always!
With love,
TinaTina,
Sorry to hear that things have progressed as they have. Most important right now is to keep her as comfortable and pain free as possible. My thoughts are with you.
Love & Hugs,
DarlaHi Truby,
I am sorry to read how quickly this disease has progressed for your Aunt.
Marion is right – it can take a bit of tweaking but pain and other symptoms such as agitation and nausea can and should be controlled. There is no reason for her to suffer in any way. My sister died only 5 months after being diagnosed – she was 41 and we cared for her at home. Take strength from each other and here.
Much love x
Truby….I am so sorry to hear that this disease has progressed. My heart goes out to you and your family. It is possible that the pain medication needs to be adjusted; don’t hesitate from mentioning it. Keeping the patient lucid while simultaneously addressing the pain is somewhat of an art, but it can be done.
Hugs and love,
MarionTina I am so sorry about the latest on your Aunt. You can ask Hospice for a Hospital bed, commode to keep next to the bed, Walker, wheel chair and oxygen. I found toward the end the oxygen helped keep my husband calm thereby helping the pain. This is not an easy journey. Try to have the family showing and telling of their love. She deserves the rest after all she has been through. Be strong and best of luck.
It has been a while. I hope everybody is doing good!
A lot has changed. She did not have a blockage. Long story short, chemo did not work, the cancer was still growing aggressively. She has stopped chemo and once she did she started having a lot of pain again. Hospice has been brought in and now it is just keeping her comfortable during these last weeks we will have with her. She started taking pain medications with morphine this week and she is completely out of it. Her eyes are not steady and she slurs her words. She is already so weak that she cannot get up on her own, she tried walking to the bathroom with assistance yesterday and her legs gave out. She told the doctor one thing she wanted was more time. She said one thing she wanted to do was go camping. Since she has declined so quickly I do not feel this will happen.
I enjoyed learning about many of your experiences! I continue to pray for each of you during your or your loved one’s battle. Hopefully there will be a cure soon!
Love,
TinaGosh, I feel so certain she has a blockage. Other than the fluids, this sounds exactly like what I went through. Are they doing a cholangiogram? I think that is what it is called.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cholangiography
I had the percutaneous transhepatic cholangiogram, which is where they fixed by blockage by inserting the bile drains.
Sending good throughts and prayers for her.
Lisa
Hi Tina and welcome to the site. I was going to agree with others and say head for that second opinion and it looks like you have started down that path. Hugs and blessings to you all on her fight and journey ahead.
Tina –
Sounds like you have a good plan of attack there and you are a wonderful advocate for you aunt.As for the fluid in her stomach….it is most likely ascites which is fluid build up in the abdomen but not inside any organ such as the stomach or intestines. They drain it fairly easily and they can put a permanent drain in if it needs to be drained often. The ascites is from the blood not flowing correctly though the liver due to the liver not functioning as well as it should. It backs up in the veins and the clear part of the blood leaks out into the stomach. Sounds worse that it is for the most part. It does often make noise when it sloshes around.
As for the cancer it sounds like maybe both lobes of the lover and inside/outside the bile ducts which means that the tumors are actually in side the bile ducts causing blockages. I wonder if there has been any talk of stents or a biliary drain (this is a tube placed to drain the bile to the outside of the body) which can help relieve the pressure on the liver. It may be a question to ask.
Good luck and keep us posted.
KrisVGood evening,
Thought I would send a short update from my Aunt’s second opinion today with the University of Iowa. They agreed that there is not much that can be done for her. They also said the chemo she was receiving would be what they would have done as well. They stated the cancer is in both lobes of the liver and my Mom thought they said on the inside and outside of the bile…not sure if that makes sense to anybody. This weekend was rough for her, nothing would stay down, not even a little. She has lost 20 lbs in a little over a week. They gave her two choices, either be admitted to the hospital at the University of Iowa Hospitals or be admitted to St. Lukes in Cedar Rapids. She choose to be admitted to University of Iowa. She is dehydrated so they will be giving her fluids. They are going to run tests to see if there is a blockage causing her not to keep solids/liquid down and also her stomach is full of liquids so they are going to see what that is about and said they may need to drain the fluid. (I have no idea about this fluid in her stomach area…they moved her stomach and my Mom said you could hear the fluid in there.) My Mom said she seemed relived to be admitted…as I mentioned in an earlier post she said how she wanted to be admitted. The University’s concern at this time is getting her more comfortable and figuring out the fluids in the belly and if there is a blockage.
Lisa, thank you for letting me know about your experience. My Mom brought up the blockage right away…and they expressed concern that she may have one. I feel this is a great place to start and at least figure out what is goiong on vs just giving more meds that are not helping her feel better.
So not as short as I thought…I will post again once the testing is done. You all are so awesome and I pray for each person and family that is going through cancer!
Good night!
TinaTina,
You have gotten a lot of good advice here and I think you are on the right path. The second opinion is a good step in the right direction. Good luck on Monday. Looking forward to hearing how it went and what you learn. Wishing your aunt the best.
Love & Hugs,
DarlaThank you all for the information. I will be writting down the feedback into questions for the doctors. And I will ask about the voimiting too! I made an appointment for my aunt on Monday for a second opinion at the University of Iowa. Can’t wait to hear what they opinion is. I feel excited for some reason, guess I am just hopeful.
I will let you all know what we find on Monday!Lisa – I will be looking at your posts about your experience!
Take care everybody!
Tina
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