Rollercoaster of a Journey

[Caroll72]

Hello, My Hubby, 67 was diagnosed with Stage 4 PC in December '21 with mets to Liver. Given 'months' to live. He had  4 rounds of Carboplatin & Etoposide which ended in April '22. CT Scan showed the tumour had stabilised so we continued to live life to the full. In May he was admitted to hospital with pains in side, back and ribs, we thought the end had come and the hospital issued a do not resuscitate notice on him. As the days passed he started eating and getting more strength back and was sent home under pallative care. Life continued pretty normal, but every now and again he gets extreme fatigue, nausea and backpain, despite being on pain medication. These 'flare ups' appear to come from nowhere, out of the blue and he takes to his bed for days on end. Then he perks up again. No one prepares you for this, the doctors don't know why his symptoms come and go the way they do. Their answer is 'It's the cancer', but my question is, if the tumour is stable, why is he getting so many symptoms that come and go. It's like a switch, on and off.  Has anyone else experienced this? 

[Floofmom]

Hi Caroll72, yes to some extent although not as dramatic as yours perhaps.  My mum goes through periods of extreme pain and nausea, then seems to get a bit better and plateau for a while.  Some of her improvements may be due to tweaking doseage of antinausea meds, but for a while she went onto a syringe driver then to our surprise got weaned off it.  It really is an absolute rollercoaster.

[Caroll72]

Hubby was on a syringe driver for a while too and he hated it. His pain is controlled by meds, but its the fatigue that drags on and on.

I do believe that sometimes a woman can cope better than a man with the cancer. It's especially hard with the low moods.

[broju]

Hello Caroll72.  You both have my sympathies. My husband had very little pain really, but loads of discomfort from diarrhoea and often sickness but I think he found the endless, extreme fatigue the worst thing to deal with. It was the worst kind of roller coaster for us both. I understand the strength you are needing to support him.  Try to take care of yourself too. Thinking of you.xx

[Caroll72]

1 hour ago, broju said:

Hello Caroll72.  You both have my sympathies. My husband had very little pain really, but loads of discomfort from diarrhoea and often sickness but I think he found the endless, extreme fatigue the worst thing to deal with. It was the worst kind of roller coaster for us both. I understand the strength you are needing to support him.  Try to take care of yourself too. Thinking of you.xx

Thank You Broju, At least your husband didn't have pain, that is a blessing. I am going to speak with Pallative Care tommorrow as he's taking Oxypro Opiods and i know they can become addictive over time.