Mum dying ..last days ? Have no idea !

Hi 

I'm sat at my mums bedside right now and I feel helpless and have no idea what I'm doing .

I came to see her on Monday as planned as I live 97 miles away .

Mum has lung cancer and spine cancer which she has had 2 years of treatment for .

Mumalso has cancer in her womb which we was told in summer was incurable and was offered no treatment. 

Since 16 Sept when chemo finished she has been alright as such till about a few weeks ago ,before then dad pushed her in wheelchair across beachfront every day and they went to cafe .my sister rang me then n said mum was not well n to come over. She was poorly n not able to get off sofa but she was still mum .

As I said I came Monday and all was OK I sat on bed with her chatting n laughing as normal .

Tues ...seems like months away as I'm writing this ! 

I noticed she had blood in her wee ,rang Dr and he sent antibiotics out. Mentioned this to district nurse as she had come in to get the respect form signed and she was OK and said it was probably an infection.  

Fast forward to now ...

Mum has deteriated so much in front of my eyes and I can't believe how this has happened in a few  days ..I got my brother to come from Newcastle to say goodbye on Fri,my sis got the grandkids over the past few days to come too. 

Nurses and Marie curie nurses in several times day and night since Tues. Mums on a syringe pump .

Can't sit up,get on commode .not eating drinking much ,not answering when talking to her ,sleeping all the time except yesterday she sat up n played cards with brother ...

I have absolutely no idea what's happening with her .

Nurses literally come in administers drugs and go . 

No advise no chat nothing . Me n dad have no idea what to bloody do ! 

Dad's not a talker at all n seems to be in denial as he keeps trying to get her to eat and not speak about what's happening...he's as scared as me ,there's just the 2 of us here now. Mums breathing is shallow I guess ...I don't even know what that phrase means right now ! 

Mum is 75 n I'm 52 not that that matters !!! 

  • It's all so hard to comprehend when you're on this roller coaster of when will it happen.  The trouble is no one knows what's going on even the nurses and paliative care teams.. My husband came home 18th January this year, according to them he had months to live so they wouldn't even put the syringe driver in for him.  He died 5 days later but that morning he was chatting and knew our daughters were with him and was reminiscing about the olden days of our courtship, he died that night, so it is really hard on family as we cannot predict the outcome.  Take care and I hope you soon have some more help.  Carol 

  • Thank you Carol 

    Such kind words.  I know no one can predict and everyone is different. 

    I had a chat with district nurse this morning and she was so lovely n really helped me .

    I'm feeling a lot calmer today.xx 

    Yesterday was a bad day but I have had a lot of questions answered today.

    I'm so sorry for your loss ,I truly am and I hope you are getting support if you need it too .

    Bamf xxx

  • Thank you Bamf, my family have seen me through the worst times.  The district nurses are angels and are 24/7 if you need to call them out for  any help you may need, even changing beds so that the patient is not traumatised more. Take care, Carol x