Lung Cancer - End of life

Hi my mum was diagnosed with stags 4 lung cancer in March. She deteriorated quickly and has been having chest infectious a lot over the last few weeks. She is not receiving and cancer treatment, as too weak. She went into hospital with chest infection last week and the aggressive antibiotics are not working. She needs 24/7 oxygen at 60% and is not eating much/ very tired and now confused due to lack of oxygen. The dr mentioned potentially withdrawing treatment if antibiotics did not work, but now he's put her on steroids for 4 days and will reassess. I don’t know why he would do this? Is it inevitable she will die, so why prolong it? If he does withdraw care. Is this really her last chance? Does anyone know what this will look like( withdrawing care) Will they take oxygen away completely? Will they sedate her? This is really stressful for the family as we thought we would be without her already, so this is causing us even more pain. 

  • Hi Paula678,

    Welcome to Cancer Chat. It sounds like you're going through a tough time with this and I'm sorry to hear that it is causing all this additional stress and worry. I can completely understand your questions, although unfortunately I'm not really able to advise on them. Do of course try to discuss this with your mum's doctor as soon as you can (if you haven't already).

    You are also welcome to give our nurses a call if you would like to talk things through. You can reach them on freephone 0808 800 4040 - Monday-Friday, 9-5.

    Otherwise, hopefully you'll get some more replies to your post here soon.

    We're always here if you need it.

    Wishing you all the best,

    Ben
    Cancer Chat Moderator