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Sclc

Mymumisawarrior
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Hi folks... 

My beautiful mum had breast cancer 29 years ago... 17 months ago she was diagnosed with sclc which had gone to a nearby lymph node, also there is now a mass in her pelvic area. She has had 12 bouts of cisplatin and many rounds of preventative radiotherapy to the head and chest. On our last meeting with her oncologist he advised us that the chemo is no longer an option and we should go over to palliative care. My brave beautiful mum insisted that she wants more chemo (cav) to which he agreed. We noticed a really quick decline in her health just before Xmas. She was getting confused and slurred speech and needing support when walking. Doctors stated it could have gone to the brain but didn't want to put her through anymore testing. Her calcium levels were through the roof and that could present the same symptoms. They have performed hours upon hours of flushing her system in order to get the calcium levels down.... To some success which kept her health at the level it was and ceased the rapid decline. She has just had another bout of chemo on Monday. This has been an horrific journey, we are a very close family I have two sisters for support, we all support each other. I'm fearing that the end is close. We all want to care for her at home in her familiar surroundings. We have district nurse and macmillan nurses all on standby. My fears are growing stronger by the day. Now my mum is an absolute warrior and although being 5 ft and 8 stone she is hard as nails and she is emotionally deep as an ocean.... Some of our conversations have been heartbreaking. Now my fears in my head at the moment is that I feel as though my mum is going to hang onto every second of life and I'm sure she will be against the macmillan nurse putting the box of medication on her as she knows once it goes on she will be sleeping. What can we expect in the end. Will there be pain? As I've said she will fight that box of medication going into her so I can only imagine she will take it to the maximum before she gives in. I've read that there can be hemorrhages towards the end

Thank you for your time. 

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    Hi Mymumisawarrier....just didn't want it to go unanswered. Your Mum and yourself sound formidable! I don't know how your Mum's end will come, but I can say that I will always be grateful that my Mum was able to end as herself....and that the morphine pump really helped with that as once she'd had enough she was able to trust the doctors and nurses who had promised her no pain, and taken away her deep fear of the ending....

  • Offline in reply to KPB

    Hi Mymumisawarrior,

     

    we are going through something similar with my dad, he was diagnosed with SCLC in Oct last year, had chemo which finished in Jan, he was clear then a new tumour in March...

    anyway it's been a really rough few months but it's now spread to his bones and the doctors have given him 3 months.. he's been in a lot of pain for a while, it's been horrible to watch...

    we are obviously devastated but are trying to be strong for him.

    I hate that SCLC chats seem to go cold so firstly I wanted to check in and say your mum sounds like an absolute warrior. She has fought it so hard which I think on this formum we know is not easy. And secondly know if you have any advice?

     

    all the very best to you and your family

     

    xx

  • Offline in reply to JoJoC

    Hi JoJoC, I know it can be hard putting up such personal stuff on a site. And especially when so many people have not been able to be with their loved ones towards the end recently....I didn't have to face that, for which I am truly grateful. The only bit of advice I can offer is that you should permit yourself to read his messages about where he's at now. My mum raged for a while, then was unbelievably resigned and 'noble', then frightened again, then finally just tired. At the end she genuinely had got to the end of her strength, and we couldn't want her to hang on losing more and more of herself....Nothing makes it easier, but knowing she was ready to go did help...The astonishing thing about the palliative care was that it gave real quality of life in those last few months - and I will always be grateful for the care which the hospice gave her, nurses, doctors, specialists, cleaners, therapists, receptionists, cooks ....they were all so kind to us and to her. The only other thing I would say is that in all probability no decisions you made will have changed the situation - there's a whole area of life which is out of our control, all we can do is try to ride whatever wave we get landed with....so be kind to yourselves too....

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