Dad has weeks left small cell lung cancer with brain mets

My dad was diagnosed last august with small cell lung cancer, which had spread to the spine and lymph nodes. In feb this year he was told he has multiple brain tumours. He is now unable to walk, he's at home in a hospital bed with carers coming in each day. He started being sick the day he needed the bed, but is now on anti sickness tablets so he isn't suffering with this now. He's eating less, still able to get to his commode himself but with a struggle. The nurses said he has weeks left, but I don't know if that means it could be up to 4 or more? Like when do they stop counting it as weeks and as months? Might sound silly but I want to know how long 'weeks' could mean. I mean could 6 weeks still count..? I would think of that as months though if it were that long..I've found this all such a whirlwind, dad was so strong but said to me 'I'm losing the fight now' which broke my heart. I live 4 hours away from my dad and did a visit recently which was lovely but such a mix of emotions. Really struggled to get actual quality time with him, I'm struggling to plan trips and life around this unpredictable horrible disease.

If anyone has experience with this, being told there are only weeks left and can tell me their stories I would find that helpful, I am mindful that every patient is different though as I've been told many times! 

Parents
  • Hi, how are you and how is your Dad? My sister has just been diagnosed with terminal stomach cancer (it's spread to other areas). Like your Dad, she has been given weeks to live. We are devastated and trying to be with her as much as possible. Similar to you I live 5 hours away and have 2 children (2 and 5). I find myself over analysing the 'few weeks' statement but it is difficult to make plans.

    So sorry to everyone who has lost a loved one. It really is heartbreaking  

Reply
  • Hi, how are you and how is your Dad? My sister has just been diagnosed with terminal stomach cancer (it's spread to other areas). Like your Dad, she has been given weeks to live. We are devastated and trying to be with her as much as possible. Similar to you I live 5 hours away and have 2 children (2 and 5). I find myself over analysing the 'few weeks' statement but it is difficult to make plans.

    So sorry to everyone who has lost a loved one. It really is heartbreaking  

Children
  • Hi thank you so much for replying. I'm sorry to hear that you're going through a similar time, I would never wish the experience on anybody. My dad has had a very quick change in the last few days- he went from getting in a chair/the dining table to being bed bound. He had the shakes yesterday trying to use the commode then he got dizzy so the nurses said he should lie down. He told us he has pain everywhere at 5am today so he's now on morphine.. we await more nurses to come in, but I'm actually heading home to rest for a day before things really progress because this way my husband can drive me back here and then back home if this is the end. I am trying to think ahead a bit but it's very tough. I can't believe how fast this has all happened and I imagine now we are looking at days instead of weeks.