Update on mum

Hi everyone. Sorry I have been away so long!! Only just remembered I had created an account on here!

Just thought I'd pop on and add an update for everyone I had spoken to in the past. I will recap for anyone else who reads this and doesn't know my story

My mum was diagnosed with lung cancer last year and was given radiotherapy to shrink the tumour as it couldn't be removed safely due to it's location. We were hopeful since after her treatment she had a scan and was told it had shrunk dramatically. Unfortunately two days after this she took a turn for the worst and ended up in hospital in a bad state. We eventually spoke to a consultant who told us it had spread to her brain and was terminal. She bounced back after this and was released home, and was told perhaps chemo would prolong her life and was her decision, this is where I left off last time I wrote on here. Just an update to say she decided against the chemo after being told it may not help and would make her pretty sick, wasn't worth it at the time as she was still pretty able and in a good way. Since then she has been in and out of hospital a few times, nothing as serious as the first time. Celebrated Christmas, new year & just recently my birthday. Glad for this although she is sadly getting weaker and sorer, spends most of the the time resting.

Anyway just thought I would post an update! Thank you for reading xxx

Parents
  • Hi again everyone. Another update for anyone who's interested. Mum is still in hospital, very sore and very out of breath. The doctors did a scan the other day as they thought there was fluid on the lung which they were hoping to drain which would ease her breathlessness but after doing the scan they found there was no fluid, it appears it's all down to the tumour on the lung, so doesn't look like much can be done to help with her breathing...

    Feeling rather upset today and annoyed. Wish more could be done and hate leaving her in the hospital. Also hate the thought of them examining her and proding at her as I know she will find it all very embarrasing. She has a lot of memory loss due to the tumours which spread to her brain yet they constantly ask her questions she can't remember the answers too!!!!! She is allergic to certain medications yet they sit seem to make note of it just rely on asking her even though she doesn't know, so she ends up ill cause they give her it anyway.

    They are saying it might be best for her to go to a hospice now and aren't sure she will fight off the infection this time:(

    Sorry for the rant I am just getting annoyed and upset now!

  • Hi again Candy,

    I hope you have been able to get some answers from the nurses with the number Jane left you.

    I understand that you are angry right now and also hate having to leave your Mum to be poked and prodded by doctors who may seem like they don't really care however in this situation it may seem difficult to distinguish between them not caring and simply the detachment that most doctors and nurses have from their patients.  I will also repeat that it does seem, based on what you have written that your Mum would be more comfortable in a hospice as they are specifically set up to care for people who are ill like your Mum is and my Dad was rather than her staying in a busy hospital.

    This may seem like a crazy statement to make but I actually envy you being able to see your Mum as often as you do even though she is very sick.  My Dad lived in North Wales and I live on the South Coast so I would make the trip once or twice a month, each time during his last months seeing a marked decrease in his health with each visit.  I have said this to many people here in the past and I will no doubt say it again but when you are with your Mum try and make her smile whenever you can as in that brief instant there is no pain.  Also imprint those moments in your memory as they will help you a little in the future. As for feeling angry that is perfectly natural but it also drains your strength so if you can find a way to calm your mind and diffuse the anger a little that will also help.

    Take care Candy and the very best wishes to you and your Mum.

    Garf.     

  • Hi Garf

    I am not able to phone them as I am in work all night so I have left them a message on here and hope to hear from them when they are not too busy.

    I understand she may be better in a hospice and that is her decision I will agree with whatever she thinks. But I have heard her say on a few occasions she feels that is where people go when they are extremely ill and very close to death.. Maybe she doesn't realise just how ill and weak she is.

    I know what you are saying about the doctors and nurses but just feels sometimes that it is hard to get a hold of someone and find out what is really going on. We still don't really understand why she is in this time and what should happen now...

    Did your dad have lung cancer as well? Sorry I can't remember what you had told me about his illness

    Yes I know what you mean about  being able to see her loads, I am only in my 20 so I still live at home so I am able to see her everyday luckily.

    I am trying to let go of the anger but just wish people didn't need to deal with this!

    xxx

  • Hi again,

    Yes Dad did have lung cancer.  He kept going to see his doctor about a cough that wouldn't go away and his doctor kept prescribing antibiotics.  When Dad went back and ended up seeing a lokum he was sent for an x-ray immediately which showed a shadow on his lung.  I have tried VERY hard not to be angry with Dad's doctor as there is nothing to say an earlier x-ray would have made any difference to the outcome.  The lung was removed within two months in Liverpool but it seems the surgeon may have contaminated other areas while performing the procedure although I got that information third hand so I don't know for sure.  Anyway just like your Mum the chemo that followed was in-effective and so it just became a matter of when the end would come.  I travelled to North Wales for his 75th birthday party and that was the day I was told by my Aunty that according to the doctors he was expected to have already been gone a month or so earlier.  He lived for almost a full year after that but died in May 2012.

    Candy I can only empathize with what you are going through right now and tell you to simply take each day as it comes.  It is so hard to find yourself grieving for a loved one who is actually still with us but stay strong and let the people here help if we can.

    I will check here again tomorrow.

    Garf. x

  • Hi Garf, how are you today?

    Thanks for filling me in about your dad. It's great that you made it to his 75th party and amazing he managed to keep fighting on for another year, I'm sure he was a great man! My mum was the same, she had a bad cough and also a very sore back. I understand when you say you find it hard not to be angry with them not taking it seriously at first as my mums situation was much the same, and that is shocking about the possibility of contamination! Due to location my mums wasn't able to be removed as it was too risky as it was near the heart.

    Visited mum tonight she is looking very pale and thin. Finding it hard to breathe, a lot of small shot breaths. Been informed by the nurse that this doesn't look like a chest infection after all and perhaps just the cancer and this is her deteriorating :((. Doesn't look like she will be coming home this time and they are going to look into a place at the hospice. This just feels so unfair no one deserves this and finding it very hard to watch this happen to my mum. It's strange that when I first found about this all I took it in and kind of dealt with it but as time has went on I feel myself coping less and less...

    How do you deal with it? I can see no way I ever being normal again after I lose her :((......

  • Hi Candy,

    I have just caught up with your thread and am so sorry for you and your poor Mum.

    Although your Mum has misgivings about going into a hospice the care they give is second to none in my experience and her comfort will be their priority.

    I can understand that you initially dealt with it and as time has gone on your coping less and less.

    We all need hope in life and thats probably what you had enough of a first, but maybe now you don't have that same hope and so feel hopeless.

    That is a difficult place to be.

    I am sending you my virtual hugs and hope your Mum wherever she is finds a peaceful and painfree state.

    Thinking of you

    Annabel. xx

Reply
  • Hi Candy,

    I have just caught up with your thread and am so sorry for you and your poor Mum.

    Although your Mum has misgivings about going into a hospice the care they give is second to none in my experience and her comfort will be their priority.

    I can understand that you initially dealt with it and as time has gone on your coping less and less.

    We all need hope in life and thats probably what you had enough of a first, but maybe now you don't have that same hope and so feel hopeless.

    That is a difficult place to be.

    I am sending you my virtual hugs and hope your Mum wherever she is finds a peaceful and painfree state.

    Thinking of you

    Annabel. xx

Children
  • Hi Annabel, thank you for taking the time to read and answer my thread!

    I think the reason she is wary about the hospice is that she sees it as a place people go to die, perhaps she doesn't see herself as in that position.. I just feel so sorry for her I hate this!! I think your right, I think I always believed the radiotherapy would work or that something would work and cure it, but obviously that is not the case :(. I'm getting to the point where I just wanna stay in bed and hide, can't be bothered with work or anything but I know I need to...

    Don't get how after losing someone so close people can just go back to routine like work etc, when the worst happens I can't ever see myself being the same!

    Thank you for your advice, sorry I don't have more to say, time to get up for work

    xxxx