thirddaughter
New User
Joined: 27 Nov 2005
Posts: 1
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 Posted: Sun Nov 27, 2005 10:53 pm Post subject: Daddy- What's next? |
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| My father was diagnosed with Colorectal Cancer- He had a colostomy back in May- then went through radiation and chemo. He finished it in August. He was scheduled to have the tumor and his bladder (it had either spread or grown into the bladder) removed in Oct. It kept getting put back due to complications. Then, when they opened him they said that the cancer was all behind his stomach, weaved throughout his pelvis wall, in the lymph nodes and in the lower intestines. They closed him back up without doing anything. As far as we know, the cancer has not been found on the liver or in the lungs. The stage is T4 N2 MX. (This was in a report prior to the latest surgery). Now, Dad has a patch, for pain, takes oral pain meds, two different meds for nausea and vomiting, as well as various other oral meds. The plan is for him to take chemo "the rest of his life." Maybe beginning in December. The surgeon said he could live 16-18 months. Daddy is having difficulty eating, is nauseous, burps constantly and basically only able to take liquids. He is in quite a bit of pain. My mom does get him to drink Ensure and Boost and as much as possible. He does like sweets and sometimes tries these, when he won't try anything else, but doesn't "eat" much. The nurses/surgeon at the VA, which ended up not being able to do the surgery due to a broken arm, have implied they don't believe dad will live that long. He went last week to get the staples out, and they said if dad didn't eat they would put him in the hospital and give him an IV to keep his kidneys from shutting down. Things through the VA are very time consuming - as it took over a month to get the results from the biopsies. We are at a loss as to what is going on and what to expect next. Mom never knows if what is happening is part of the disease or something else. How do we know when to seek medical attention? Will we know when to contact Hospice? I feel they will answer many questions about expectations, but aren't usually called in until the last 6 months. Is there any way to know how long he will live? What makes the Dr. say 16-18 months? ( Reading other posts, I am wondering if it is due to the fact it is not in the liver yet...) I know several of you have had loved ones go through this, any insight would be deeply appreciated, as I live 10 hours away- |
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