Coping with knowing your dad only has days left

Finding life quite tough as my dad now only has days left to live and not sure what to expect? He has battled cancer for over 6 years. Started with bowel cancer and now it is secondary and gone to his liver, he has given an amazing fight and his medical team have been great. Now there is no more treatment and no plan in place it is hard to focus or know what to expect. He is at home and we are hoping to keeping him there.  He is struggling to move and has not really been able to eat for over a month as he cannot swallow easily. Does anyone have any advise on caring for patients and what to expect in the final days. Cannot imagine life without him and feeling so lost right now.

  • I am so sorry that you are going through this. My beautiful dad passed away Friday 1st December after 7 months fighting this evil thing. He was in the hospice for 6 months as he was thought to only have weeks but he fought and fought. I visited 7 days a week and the last 50 hours I never left his side. My heart goes out to you. Stay strong xxx

  • Hi Watermint, 

    I'm really sorry to hear about your dad and wanted to stop by and provide you with some information we have on our website about what to expect in the last few weeks and days. I hope this helps to prepare you for what is to come but it can be a difficult read so do only go through it when you feel you are ready or have someone with you. 

    Any other questions you may have do feel free to give our cancer nurses a call. They're available Monday - Friday between 9a.m - 5p.m on 0808 800 4040.

    Kind regards, 

    Steph, Cancer Chat Moderator

  • Thank you for the link, is it normal for a patient to produce  Black vomit? Today this has happened and don't know where to turn for advice. Going to call the GP tomorrow and hope they can come out and asscess as we want to keep him at home but need some help.

  • Im so sorry to hear that. My dad has stage 4 non small cell lucima and is not doing good. He could have months or weeks. It is so hard to imagine him not being here.
  • Hi Watermint, 

    Unfortunately I can't answer that question but if you have any contact numbers for your dad's medical team I would try to get through to them for advice.

    I know you're going to call the GP tomorrow but if there is an out of hours option you could try going that route or you could give NHS 111 a call as they may be able to help and point you in the right direction on who to contact regarding this. 

    I hope this helps.

    Kind regards, 

    Steph, Cancer Chat Moderator