Mum was diagnosed with angioimmunoblastic Tcell lymphoma just a month ago after being admitted to hospital at the start of February with severe double pneumonia. In the last 8 weeks she's spent just two days at home, having had her first chemo session the day we received the diagnosis. She picked up an infection again and has been back in hospital the last three and a half weeks, two of which in an induced coma, ventilated in ICU. Again. After contracting swine flu, leading to severe double pneumonia again she suffered respiratory failure. After waking her last Sunday, she started to deteriorate again in the week and is put back on the ventilator where remains for the foreseeable.
It all feels never ending for her after only one round of chemo and I can't accept that the treatment that could save her life, being the chemo, could ultimately cost her her life as her immune system is shot. I take comfort that in all probability she won't remember much if anything of everything she's been through but how do we get through the next five planned chemo sessions, if she survives this damn flu? It's been incredibly hard for the whole family and we are all starting to get a bit desperate at the forever changing info we get each day from the hospital. The staff on ICU are tremendous and I have no idea how they do what they do and they genuinely seem to care about our welfare too which is comforting; we have got to know them well over the last 8 weeks but how do we cope and get through what could be just the beginning of mums battle. How do we get her through it? We are exhausted, stressed, worried. Not sleeping well and eating rubbish as if we are not working we are at the hospital. We've been told she may hear voices so it's hard to not go all the time as if she can hear us, it may be of some comfort to hear something familiar. They've not said that this is it, and they are clearly doing everything they can to get her through this but it's already delayed the second chemo session and the fear that the delays will be costly are too much to even contemplate. If any one has advice on how to deal with long term hospital situations, what to do as a family, or how to stay even remotely sane I would be eternally grateful. Her cancer is rare and difficult to treat so is terrifying in itself, without everything else her body is trying to fight on top. Help!!
