Is end of life happening

My sister has stage 4 gastric cancer with peritoneal mets, she had 4 rounds of chemo and immunotherapy the chemo has now stopped and only immunotherapy in situ. Shes currently in hospital with infe ed ascites the infection being spontaneous bacterial peritonitis  she also has pleural effusion and has been fitted with a drain to drain the fluid. In hospital the doctors deal with these issues but they don’t talk about the bigger picture the actual cancer so my sister thinks she’s getting made better. I called oncologist and have been told she’s at the beginning of the end……what does that even mean has anyone known anyone with these complications should I be preparing for her not to be here in days/weeks/months I would rather know so I can support my family in the best way possible she’s only 48 with a young daughter who thinks her mum will be home soon and fixed 

  • Sorry to hear about your sister. I have been battling stage 4 lung cancer for coming on 18 months and have just been told that my next line of treatment is the last that they can offer me. I too had drains fitted for pleural effusions, one on each side, one for about 8 months and the other for 10 months. I have  just had them removed as they had done the job and no more fluid was draining, I’m no expert so can’t say whether it is an indicator to any life span. I think the best thing to do would be to call her MacMillan nurse or oncologist to explain what she means by the beginning of the end, because I could only speculate that they mean that any treatment they may have for her now would just be palliative, if they have any at all. Palliative doesn’t necessarily mean end of life though and of course everyone is different. Best wishes to you all.