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moms diagnosis


marie souter

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marie souter

Mom was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer stage 4 spread to the lungs in April of this year.. Pain is localised in the upper abdomen but the last 2 weeks she has had several horrendous vomiting spells with severe nausea. She has a syringe driver which delivered cyclizine anti nausea (useless) and injections of Haliperidol (also useless. FINALLY, after those two weeks the Macmillan nurse came and kicked up. Now shes on a different anti nausea drug WHICH WORKS and morphine 40mg through the driver (not quite enough as she still takes oromorph and has morphine injections on top. Docs think there is inflammation somewhere. Have also to inject an anti colic drug along with a steroid which has the knock on effect of increasing her appetite (yey)...


Has anyone else experienced these side effects as they can't give me an answer as to what's causing this? The pain seems to come after eating and drinking, in waves, and is accompanied by an almost deep ache in the upper abdomen area (almost period like pain). Doc is arranging an ultrasound scan to try and find out what the deal is (god knows when that will happen)....


As her full time 24/7 carer any advice given would be appreciated...she was supposed to start palliative chemo on wed this week but was cancelled due to deterioration in her health but shes picked up some now .. BUT .. also due to the severe sickness bouts this has totally put her off the chemo. Any further advice on that I can pass on would also be appreciated. Also as a carer, I am absolutely shattered having moved in with my mom to give her all the support she needs. Shes only 65 but terrified and also anxious and nervous at the best of times. She gets up several times a night and I sleep very little (usually 2-4 hrs if I am lucky). I always manage to put a cheery smile on when dealing with her and her needs (*emotionally and physically) but I fear visitors must think I am such a miserable one as when they ask how I am I always say 'tired'. Not one person offers to give me a break or makes me a cup of tea .. how do I deal with this as I am there for my mom but just feel everyone sees me as general dogsbody as well .. bah I feel like I'm rambling and also feel guilty for daring to say I am tired when shes going through so much. People told me I would have all this help? Where is it?

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  • 2 months later...

Marie, I have just read your updates on a number of other threads. You seem to have been through an awful lot over the last 2 months with your Mother. Sorry to see you are having to do all the work on your own, but also good that your Mom is a little more mobile. I am in a pretty good place for the moment with my Pancreatic Cancer, but I am sure the advice you have given on the other posts is invaluable. As mentioned above, you certainly have gained a substantial amount of experience with this damned thing in a very short space of time. Thanks for sharing this with us.


Good luck to you both!


Steve

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Ty Steve was so nice of you to say that ... Moms doc/nurses thought I had a medical background ..I'm just a sponge and take on info super quick ... When you're looking after someone terminally ill I believe you can't leave everything to the docs you need a good instinct for when something not right ... So many things have gone wrong I think its my duty to pass onanything that might save someone going through the same thing .. I truly hope u r ok Steve and would love to hear your story if you feel like sharing .. Hugz

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No problem Marie, you will find my real life story under 'inoperable'. It is now a little out of date, but basically after chemoradiotherapy the tumour has shrunk but still remains inoperable. I am however feeling really fit, currently receiving no treatment and will be checked every 3 months with a CT scan to keep an eye on it. I will be sending the latest scan results to both CyberKnife and NanoKnife specialists for a view on the appropriateness of these treatments for me.


Take care


Steve

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Am glad to hear you're doing well Steve it's nice to see someone doing well you see and hear of so many people who aren't..am feeling like atm moms on a good stretch as well .. heres hoping you both stay like this for quite some time :)

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