Can someone please advise me thankyou!

Hello thank you for reading. 

Firstly my mum has battled with lung cancer since October17 it has spread to most parts of the body now. 

She  hasn’t eaten for well over 2 weeks still drinking & talking but not the same  

her meds have been upped but she is still struggling 

the district nurse came today after I called them as I know she wasn’t right and they have gone to get some advice about a driver being put in

my mum wanted to go to a hospice but they said they will start the driver at home 

is this the end for my mum now? 

Mum very confused and need some help thankyou x

 

  • Hello Boostx,

    I am so sorry to hear your mum has been so unwell and has not eaten for over 2 weeks now. It must be a very difficult time for you and those around her. We have some information on our website on syringe drivers here. The discussion also crops up frequently on our forum so if you do a search on our forum for 'syringe driver', you will be able to see all the conversations relating to this topic and respond to any you wish to engage with.

    If you live in the UK, our nurses are also around Monday to Friday from 9am to 5pm. You can ring them on this free number 0808 800 4040 and talk things through with them or ask them anything you want to know about syringe drivers.

    I suspect there will be many on our forum who have been through this before and been there when the decision was taken to set the syringe driver. I hope they will be along shortly to share their experience with you.

    Best wishes,

    Lucie, Cancer Chat Moderator

    Best wishes during these difficult moments. We are all here for you.

  • Hi Boostx. There is definitely a lot of info on the syringe drivers, and as Moderator Lucie mentioned, there are many threads on this site discussing it. 

    I think for the most part, the syringe driver is put in place when a patient has trouble swallowing so that medication can continue to be delivered. It's also a way to ensure a continuous stream of pain medication so that the patient is always comfortable.

    Many people with all sorts of problems use syringe drivers, so it doesn't mean a person is at the end of their life.

    Having said that, I also think that many people at the end of their lives use the syringe driver because it's the easiest way to ensure a patient is comfortable.

    My mom was put on the syringe driver the day before she passed. A lot of people on this site seem to have a similar story. My mom also had lung cancer, officially diagnosed in February, but the spot was seen in October. She passed a month ago.