My 80 year old Mum was diagnosed with lung cancer in April this year (by x-ray/CT scan). In August she moved in with me and after a nasty coughing fit that produced a lot of blood and a few weeks in hospital, she allowed some more diagnostic tests to be performed and she had the diagnosis of non-small lung cancer stage 3b in August. Since then she has become increasingly weak, not wanting to walk more than a few hundred meters at a time. Occasionally she will do more e.g., join me for a walk in town etc. but finds that a couple of hours out of the house can knock her out for a few days and increases her coughing.
She seems to have lost all her fight, she is refusing any kind of treatment and is eating less and less. Her weight is dropping about 1.5 - 1.8 kgs every week. I don't know how to help her. Her interest in life in general is shrinking and we had some discussions about eating etc. in the last weeks where she gets quite upset at me. I don't want our last months - weeks (who knows how long we have left) to be spent bickering.
Am I wrong to try and encourage her to eat more? Or should I be more accepting of her wishes? I just don't know what the right thing to do is.
At the moment I feel like I am watching her slowly fade away and she is letting it happen :(
If anyone has any thoughts to share I would really appreciate it.
