My mum is 84. About 3 years ago, she went to hospital with odema and ascites and she was sent home with End Stage Liver Disease and only 3 1/2 weeks’ medication. I lived with her at her home almost 24/7 for 9 months until the carers being paid for by Continuing Care cancelled their contract and she was taken into a nursing home. She has now been alive for 3 years longer than anticipated and went for an ultrasound scan (on 19th January 2024), which showed that her liver appears to have repaired itself to some extent.
However, the ultrasound also found a 3cm mass on my mum’s bladder.
Also, since 1st January 2024, Mum’s been complaining of pain in her perineal area. She describes it as a sharp knife stabbing upwards next to her anus.
She has been completely bed ridden since being sent home in 2020. She still seems to have ascites - although the swelling to her tummy appears not to be all ascites. She has been overweight in the past but she hasn’t been fat for the last couple of years but her tummy is very big.
Her appetite is getting much smaller. She is on a 15mg Buprenorphine 7-day patch and paracetamol and is still in pain. She was vomiting if she ate more than a couple of mouthfuls of food but an anti-emetic has helped with that. Also, she has stopped eating more than a couple of mouthfuls, she says.
Today, she complained of a sore mouth and throat and when she showed me her tongue it was bright red.
She has an appointment for a cystoscopy on Thursday 28th March (the soonest they could get her in after the ultrasound on 19th January).
The letter says not to come in if she has a urinary tract infection and cites numerous symptoms she has because of the suspected bladder cancer.
My fear is that it is bladder cancer - that the pain in various places and the sore mouth and throat are signs that it has metastasised - and that they won’t be able to carry out the cystoscopy so she won’t be diagnosed and she will continue not to be treated with palliative care.
Please could you help me. Does it sound like it’s bladder cancer and that the various symptoms show that it has spread? If so, how do I get them to take her symptoms more seriously if the cystoscopy doesn’t go ahead and so cancer isn’t diagnosed?
