Is it starting? I don't know what to do...

My husband is in stage 4 bowel cancer which has spread to his liver and peritoneal area. In the last couple of weeks my has become a lot more tired and he hardly eats anything. He doesn't fancy anything, feels sick when eating etc. His oncologist discharged him in February so we now only see the GP once a month an last time we saw her a couple of weeks ago she said as long as he doesn't lose weight he should continue to eat lots of calories to maintain the weight. But I have realised that actually I don't think it's calories that are making him look ok as he really isn't eating hardly anything and i think it's a build up of fluids as his stomach looks quite big and "hard" to the touch? I think it's called ascites?

I don't know what to do though as my husband won't see doctors or speak to nurses (he only goes to the GP as she just chats to him, no checks or anything). He doesn't think it's ascites, he says he's fine, won't talk about how he feels, if he's in pain, what steps we should take etc. Today he's only had a handful of crunchy nuts in the morning and very little soup in the evening. He is having a lot of acid reflux and feels like he wants to be sick but can't.

I am so worried that his health is now starting to seriously deteriorate and that if we do nothing now it's going to go really quickly and too late to get any help. Is the lack of appetite, the swollen abdomen and tireness signs that we are reaching final stages? How long can he stay with ascites without anything done about it?

Thanks for any advice.

  • Hey there sorry about ur husband

     

    My sister can't bear to eat anything after her chemo everything tastes like scrap metal even juice she says she was diagnosed with bowel cancer too by the way terminal we had to insist a lot to get this diagnosed so what i can tell u is to insist with his docs to help him

     

    Sandy xx

     

  • Hello Froggybinou

    I’m sorry to read about your husband’s situation.

    In case you didn’t realise my colleague posted a reply to you in our ask the nurses section.

    You may find it helpful to talk to the nurses on our freephone number which is 0808 800 4040, we are here Monday to Friday 9am-5pm.

    Take care,

    Celene

  • Hi Sandy, thanks for your reply. Yes, the chemo has affected his taste buds and now he doens't like the taste of anything and anything tastes and feels funny to him.

    We went to the GP today and they gave him some tablets to stop the acid reflux and also some anti nausea tablets to take when he feels sick. We are due back next week to see how that went. Also the hospice nurse is coming to visit us on Friday to discuss what they can do for us at home, as my husband won't consider going to the hospice at all.

    Fingers crossed we'll get the help we need.

    Sorry to hear about your sister... I hope she gets the help she needs too. You are very right, you need to insist with the doctors otherwise you are left on your own device (in my own experience).

    Best wishes x

  • I have Celene, thank you - I'll give a quick update on the other thread :)