My mum was diagnosed with a Glioblastoma in November 2020. We initially thought that her forgetting things was down to old age, then when she was struggling to get her words out we thought maybe a mini stroke had happened. He GP did the stroke tests and she passed each one, so we were puzzled as to what was wrong. Four days after visiting her GP, I took her to the bank and she was unable to sign her name. Back we went to the GP who repeated the stroke tests but she didn't pass them all this time. I was advised to take her straight to the hospital for a scan. Later that evening the hospital doctor informed me that the scan revealed a brain tumour and it didn't look good. They kept her in for more tests for the next 2 weeks and with Covid that was extremely hard as we could not visit. Eventually the Consultant asked to meet me and showed me the scan images. He advised that it was a glioblastoma which was untreatable for a woman of 84 years. His advice was to admit my mum to a nursing home as she could no longer live independently. He said that she would have up to 10 months to live at which stage I said that my mum would be coming to live with me and my family. On the 5th December mum got discharged and came to live with us. Each morning a carer would come to the house to help her shower and dress. I tried to keep her active by taking her for walks and going shopping. However I noticed that she could no longer do the simple things like making a cup of tea as she couldn't process how to do it or where the cups were kept. She still knew everyone but as time went on her speech got worse and it was very hard to understand what she was saying. On New Year's Eve whilst sitting in her chair she fell asleep and when we went to rouse her she was drifting in and out of consciousness. Her face had dropped on the right side and she couldn't feel anything down that side of her body. We called an ambulance and they admitted her to hospital. As there was a DNR in place the hospital did not administer any medication but just monitored her overnight. The next morning we could not believe that she sat up in bed with all limbs moving again and asked for a cup of tea. Over the next few days they gave her some tests and found that the tumour had been bleeding. They administered steroids for a few days then sent her home. At first she was fine, but within 10 days she had lost the feeling again all down her right side and was unable to walk on her own. She got more tired but when she went to bed, she would only sleep for short spells. Her speech had worsened and she cried all night long. We took it in shifts to sit with her but nothing helped or calmed her down. Eventually we called in the district nurses who administerd morphine and a sedative as they said she was suffering from agitation. They came out every morning and night to top up these drugs over the weekend and eventually put her on a driver. We asked if they could admit her to the hospice as we felt that it would be the best option. For 5 days and nights I never left her side in the hospice, but that whole time she was asleep and never woke up. I asked the doctors to only administer the morphine as I felt the sedative was keeping her asleep. They advised that she was suffering from agitation and they wanted to keep her calm and settled. On the 5th day she passed peacefully. In total she got 9 weeks from being diagnosed and not the 10 months that we had hoped for. Seven months has now passed and I still beat myself up about her going downhill so quickly after her second stay in hospital. Would she have lasted longer without the sedatives and morphine? Up until the district nurse administered them which was 9 days before she passed, my mum was on no medication at all, not even steroids. I miss her so much and think about her every minute of every day. If I could turn back that clock I would do it in a heartbeat.
