jpmski
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From what you’re describing of your mom’s current situation, it was about a month from there to when my mother passed away.
Why aren’t they draining her stomach? Of all the indignities my mother had done to her that was one of the simpler.
With her, the small intestines had gotten ‘pinched off’, probably from the cancer growth, as a result the stomach got hugely bloated because nothing could pass. They drained the stomach over a couple of days and then a GI doctor did an ERCP (I think) and put in a metal stint to open up the blockage.
It obviously does nothing to treat the cancer, but her comfort was better and she went home.
I don’t know you insurance situation, but if there is not a GI doctor in the loop you might seek one out.
Daisy,
The end is near, but frankly ‘near’ is relative to a lot of other factors. For my mother the end was near for 9 months. She went into the hospital in August of last year because her bilirubin was too high and was in very bad shape, the palliative people told me 8 weeks seemed about right.
I got my kids prepared for it and myself prepared for it because it looked like 8 weeks. And then at the end of September they were finally able to successful get a stint across the tumor/obstruction in the bile duct. The previous 10 months they were never successful, it just too tough.
Once that happened, she became a different person for about a month. Both mentally and physically, she became someone I hadn’t seen in a long time. She was eating and joking, she put 10 pounds back on in a month. It was so bizarre to the point of it seeming like she no longer had cancer.
It lasted about a month, and I’m very grateful for it because it was a reprieve for what was coming.
My point with this is that it may cycle up and down. There will be a 1-2 week stretch where you think the end is near, and then she’ll hit a little bounce back and make you think this could go on for a long time. But it won’t.
Where it spreads and the speed probably dictates everything. You seem a lot like me with wanting to know ‘facts’, but the answer to every question is “Maybe.” So what good are those answers?
The only people I found that were actually accurate with their predictions or information were the hospice nurses, which makes sense. I’ll I can tell you is you will know the true end when you see it, and there will be no doubt.
Joe
Jack,
My mother passed away last month. If I can figure out how to send you a message directly I will, and give you my two cents.
Joe
Thanks Cathy. And congratulations.
In your opinion, or anyone else’s for that matter, why is a CC specialist so critical as opposed to a great oncologist, or whatever? I know that seems like a stupid question, but I’m trying to get a handle on what makes CC so unique as compared to other cancers. Or is it?
