End of life confusion

Hi

Sitting at the end of Dad's hospital bed. He's resting nicely. So I'm not touching him. He had metastatic lung cancer, exacerbation of COPD and chest infection all impacting his lungs on admission so basically no hope for him. He's been on 15l of oxygen for 3 days now. Since he started the syringe driver, he has deteriorated. In the last 12 hours he started pulling his mask off saying let me go. It is the most distressing think I've ever seen. Was this him or the drugs??? 

His breathing has slowed down from 24 resp rate when conscious to 12 now. Was 20 a few hours ago. I really hope he just caves in and gives up x 

  • Hi Aineegan,

    I hope you don't mind me stopping by but I noticed you haven't heard back from anyone just yet, so I wanted to let you know that your post has been seen and to offer you my utmost support at this very difficult time.

    I know it's been a couple of days since you made this post so things may have advanced during that time, but I wanted to reassure you that confusion is quite common at this stage. You can find out more about managing symptoms when you are dying on our website, but our cancer nurses are also available on 0808 800 4040, Monday - Friday between 9a.m - 5p.m if you'd like to have a quick chat with them about this as well.

    So many of our members know how upsetting it can be to watched a loved one go through this, so you are not alone, and hopefully you will receive some support and advice from our community soon.

    We're thinking of you Aineegan and sending you all our strength and support.

    Kind regards,

    Steph, Cancer Chat Moderator