Hello Feather and thanks for your post

I belong to the nurse enquiry team and one of the moderators asked if we could post something to you.

I was sorry to learn about your nan. This must be a difficult time for you all.

It is difficult to know how long someone might live for (prognosis) with advanced cancer, it is really a question best answered by the specialist doctors looking after your nan. This is because they know so much more about her situation and have the expertise and knowledge in their field and are also able to loosely base someone’s outlook on their experience of patients in similar situations. But they aren’t always right as this can be a difficult thing to estimate. So a prognosis isn’t something that is set in stone, it is just a guide as the same kind of cancer can behave differently in individual people.

However this doesn’t mean that nothing else can be done for your nan. She can be given palliative (supportive) care, with medicines to control any symptoms. Palliative care involves easing troublesome symptoms and aiming to improve a person’s quality of life. I wonder if your nan has the support of a community palliative care/ Macmillan nurse involved in her care. Their area of expertise is in the management of cancer symptoms as well as supporting the whole family with the emotional effects of cancer. Another advantage in having a Macmillan or specialist nurse is that they will have knowledge of how services are arranged in the patients local community. They will know what is available and how it can be accessed. Your nan's GP or the hospital can make the referral if she would like them involved in her care.

I hope this helps. If you would prefer to speak to one of the nurses to talk this through further, you can telephone us on 0808 800 4040.  We are here from Monday to Friday, 9am-5pm.

Best wishes,

Celene