Froggerella
New User
Joined: 17 Feb 2008
Posts: 2
Location: Merseyside, England
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 Posted: Sun Feb 17, 2008 2:45 pm Post subject: No idea what's going on - any information? |
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Hi...I'm new to this, and I know this board says it's for primary liver cancer only, and what I'm about to talk about is secondary liver cancer, but I didn't know where else to post this, and figured here was my best bet since this deals with cancer of the liver.
The basic story is...my best friend's mother was diagnosed with breast cancer about 6 years ago, when we were 11/12. She had chemo, and what seemed like about a million drugs, and got rid of it. After a while, it seemed like it was all over for good. But back in September, she got sick - coughing a lot, everything. The doctor said it was the flu, sent her home with antibiotics. It was only in November when they realised the antibiotics weren't doing anything for her, and sent her to the hospital for tests. The tests came back as positive for secondary liver cancer.
She was offered chemo - but then I found out, that was only to slow it down. And she was on it for a very short time before the doctors said it wasn't making any difference. She was told she had about 3 months without the chemo, so I can only assume that, since the chemo didn't have any effect, that rough guess still stands. And that was 3 months ago now.
I saw her a month ago, she was very weak. The hospice took her in for a while, until they got a stairlift installed in her home so she could move back - she's a single parent to my friend (now 1 and her little brother (aged 15). My friend's dad has been around lately, helping out, though.
The reason why I've come to this board today is...All weekend, me and a couple of other friends have been trying to contact my friend (the daughter). I managed to speak to her dad, who said things weren't good. Finally managed to speak to her this afternoon, and she sounded different to how I've ever heard her before. She didn't want to talk about what was going on, which I understood and respected - but it means I don't really know the situation right now.
However, my guess is that things are getting much worse, for my friend to stop contact with all of us, and not go into work. She's not like that, so it's obviously serious now. More so than it was.
What I really want to know is... Are the doctors' guesses at timespan usually accurate, to a degree? And what can my friend expect to see in her mother during the final stages? I know her mum is on morphine, but I don't know what dose I'm afraid.
Can this cancer suddenly progress very quickly? I know that my friend's mum has been ok lately, she's been as much her normal self as she can be in the circumstances...Could she have suddenly got much worse in the last week? Is it possible?
Any information anyone can give me, however small, could really help.
Also - I lost my own mother when I was a child, to a different form of cancer, and always thought I'd be able to handle it and help out if it ever happened to a friend. But now it IS happening to a friend, I have no idea what to do...She's the kind of person who doesn't like asking for, or accepting, help. I have offered. I've been told by my boyfriend and dad that that's all I can do for now - that she'll come to me when she needs me, I can't do anything other than be there when she comes to me. I think they're right...I just wish there was something I could do.
Please reply if you have any information you could give that could help my understanding and, in turn, the understanding of those also there for my friend and her family right now.
Thankyou. |
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brainman
Site Admin
Joined: 13 Oct 2005
Posts: 3398
Location: Tennessee
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| Posted: Sun Feb 17, 2008 3:05 pm Post subject: Re: No idea what's going on - any information? |
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Froggerella, I am moving your post to the breast cancer forum since that is actually what your friend's mother has. Even though you are talking about breast cancer that has metastasized to the liver, it is still breast cancer and the options are different.
Doctors work with statistical probabilities not certainties. Obviously, it is impossible for anyone to say how long your friend's mother has to live. However, breast cancer that has already metastasized to the liver is not good.
You and your friend are in my thoughts and prayers.
_________________
Jim
Site Administrator and long-term cancer survivor
1992 Astrocytoma grade 2, left motor strip
2005 Recurrence this time said to be an Oligodendoglioma grade 3, same location.
My Story Part 1: http://cancerforums.net/viewtopic.php?p=7350
My Story Part 2: http://cancerforums.net/viewtopic.php?t=8029
Blog http://jimhawkinsport.blogspot.com/ |
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. I am so sorry that she was not diagnosed sooner.
