What to expect

Irish Daisy · New User Joined: 13 Apr 2006 Posts: 5

My father aged just 60 was diagnosed with Cirrhosis AND Cancer of the Liver after losing 6 pints of blood through vomiting this February.

He has been told that it's inoperable. To stem the blood flow he has had fortnightly endoscopies to tie rubber bands round the varices. Endless MRI & CT scans and hospital visits. Many pills and an awful lot of pain.

His tumour is the size of a large mans fist and places pressure on his stomach stopping him from eating the diet ( restrictive due to his varices & bands) he has planned for him. He grows weaker by the day .......... simply has no puff but is a fighter. His stomach is lopsided due to the fluid . Only a qtr of the liver is working.

His treatment plan is to start next week......... a silver radio active ball placed in the one vein supplying blood to the cancer . He will be in 2 nights each month for the next 3 months........ thats if he is strong enough for treatment.

Today is a bad day for him and although told there will be good and there will be bad it seems there are more bad at present.

What are we to expect?
The doctors/consultants can't give him a life expectancy ( he has asked several times bless him) anything from 6 months to poss a year is their educated guess but then one said he believed in miracles and said could be 10 years...........what to believe?

Its pointless reading all the medical jargon because I feel its not relevant to HIM. I'm hampered by the fact there is an ocean between us and although I was home to see him last week I am unable to keep 'popping back'

Daddysgirl · Posted: Thu Apr 20, 2006 10:16 am Post subject: Re: What to expect

My dad is 53 and was taken to the emergency room on sunday for vomiting blood. Over the past 4 days he has been diagnosed with cirrhosis and liver cancer. A transplant is out of the question because they do not want to disturb the cancer cells allowing them to spread. His doctor gave him between 1 and 10 years. Is anything more than 1 year realistic?

I have a new baby and I live 18 hours away from the rest of the family. I am unsure of what to do at this point. Being so far away is tough. How do I show that I love him and think of him every moment of the day? Will I regret not dropping everything here and spending these last months with him? I'm so torn because I can't leave my husband here and take my daughter away for any long period of time. How do I comfort my mother? She is 49 and is facing being a widow.

Irish Daisy · New User Joined: 13 Apr 2006 Posts: 5

Hi daddys girl

I share the exact same feelings as you ..........

'..... Being so far away is tough. How do I show that I love him and think of him every moment of the day? Will I regret not dropping everything here and spending these last months with him?.......How do I comfort my mother?'

My father was in hospital for 2 nights last week to have a procedure of some cancer drug injected into the one vein that is feeding the blood supply to the cancer ONLY he hasn't had this done........... a CT scan showed up a second vein now feeding the tumour. If he had been injected it would have gone in one vein and out the other and killed off the good part of his liver........ thus he would have died that day on the operating table.

Soooooooooooooo he's home now with very little they can do for him.
They upped his dose of his medication STATIN ( no idea what this does really ) and after a very tearful phone call of lots of promises made to one another he was told he has weeks maybe months and if very lucky poss a year..................

Never in my entire adult life have I felt so helpless, sad and angry

larmourC · New User Joined: 29 Apr 2006 Posts: 1

My mum has liver cancer and we've been told there is nothing that can be done. She is already very weak and in pain. She would like to know what to expect as she nears the end. Has anyone any info on what it will possibly be like?

Irish Daisy · New User Joined: 13 Apr 2006 Posts: 5

Dad has deterioted rather rapidly .
He's now in a hospice. sleeps most of the time , very weak so weak he finds it hard to lift his head, smile or cough. for the last 2 days no urine output . Mum has been with him all the way , he doesn't want to be left alone . He looks 90 and is yet only 60. He went from 19 stone in Feb to now just 7.............. the hurt is just too awful I'm losing one of the most wonderful human beings in my life .......... I'm powerless to fix him and powerless to comfort Mum.........hopeless & truly heartbroken

paulsdaughter · Regular Joined: 26 Feb 2006 Posts: 14

[quote="larmourC"]My mum has liver cancer and we've been told there is nothing that can be done. She is already very weak and in pain. She would like to know what to expect as she nears the end. Has anyone any info on what it will possibly be like?[/quote]

Hi,
I had posted this on another thread about what happened to my dad at the end of his battle with liver cancer. You can email me if you would like more info. or just to talk. I was looking for the same info. when my dad was diagnosed. Everyone is different, but I feel that it is important to share this so that you can be prepared and take away some of the unknown. Here is my repost.

I lost my dad to liver cancer in October. He was 59. Liver cancer can and does spread. My dad's spread to his bones & lungs. However, he died from liver failure. He was diagnosed in December 2004 & had a resection done in March 05. That was the only treatment he opted for. He also had underlying cirrhosis & a clot in the portal vein which complicated his treatment. He was afraid of chemo so I don't think it would have mattered anyway. Each person is different so what happened to my dad may not happen with your mom. My dad passed away on a Sunday. He worked the Friday prior to that. What basically happened was a gradual slowing down. He lost more and more weight and began to take naps during the day. His work day also got shorter and shorter. My dad complained of some moderate back pain and that was about all. We also had hospice in and they were wonderful. My dad didn't want them at first as he was still working and driving pretty much right up until 2 days before he died. They were great though with pain management so I highly recommend them. The day before he died he started to get a little conufused which was from the beginning of encephalopathy which is the toxins (ammonia) buildup in the body from the liver failing. When I got to his house on Sunday he was quite confused. We helped him into bed and he slipped into a coma. At that point we were giving him liquid morphine to ease any pain he might be having. He began having the rattle like breathing and was a bit restless in the bed. We told him how much we loved him and that it was ok to go home. He died peacefully in both my mother & my arms about 5 hours later. Hospice was a godsend. They made sure that my mom and I were ok and that dad was comfortable and that we knew what to expect. That was such a scary thing for us, not knowing what to expect. So when I saw your post I felt like I had to reply. I left some of the more graphic things out but this was pretty much the gist of what happened for our family. Please feel free to email me privately if you would like more information.

Take care,
Jen

keyaced · Posted: Thu Jul 13, 2006 10:40 pm Post subject: need help...

my father was diagnosed with liver cancer just last week, he is 53 y.o.its size is 8 cm and the doctor says that chemo won't help and he might live upto 1 year. we didn't tell him about all the details rather we just told him that he has cancer and he doesn't know the fatality of it. he's still working now because he's the only breadwinner in the family.

i really wanted him to live longer and i was reasearching through the internet about the possible therapies and well fortunately there are options to make him survive cancer longer. unfortunately, we don't have the financial stability to undergo such procedures.

we all can relate with each others situation that's why i want to ask if you know anything about org that might help us financially or support grp that can sponsor for us. we live in the philippines and our country's health care system specially for this kind of disease is inadequate. usually patient with this disease i our country are also referred abroad and the rich people are always the lucky ones to benefit from those treatment.

we are really willing to try the stem cell treatm,ent, ive read that it can really help cancer patients but it is very expensive
_________________
we need help...we need a hospital who will sponsor us asap

Irish Daisy · New User Joined: 13 Apr 2006 Posts: 5

My father lost the battle yesterday and died in a Hospice with his family around him.

Feb 12th 2006 he was as fit as a fiddle........larking about not a care in the world. Feb 13th 2006 .......... he threw up 6 pints of blood and from there on in it all went down hill........Liver Cancer took him in 5 months........from 20 stone to 7 stone ............ what a vile illness this is.

He's at peace now and sleeping till we see him again .

Melis55 · New User Joined: 30 Jul 2006 Posts: 1 Location: CT

My father, age 50 was diagnosed with liver cancer this past april...hes had one chemo-embolization treatment and has just been listed for a transplant because they feel this is his only option...they tell him hes only got 3-6 months to get a liver before his fails him...but could take a year to get a liver. as the days go by and i sit and wait im scared about whats going to happen to him and what to expect...its so hard to look at him and believe what the doctors say, his symptoms are so vague - tired...cant really eat, but not sick enough to be taken from me in such a short time. i find myself loosing hope at a time when i should be most hopeful...i want my father to be here to see me get married, to see his grandchildren...i just dont know how i am supposed to get through this...
_________________
Melissa

paulsdaughter · Regular Joined: 26 Feb 2006 Posts: 14

[quote="Melis55"]My father, age 50 was diagnosed with liver cancer this past april...hes had one chemo-embolization treatment and has just been listed for a transplant because they feel this is his only option...they tell him hes only got 3-6 months to get a liver before his fails him...but could take a year to get a liver. as the days go by and i sit and wait im scared about whats going to happen to him and what to expect...its so hard to look at him and believe what the doctors say, his symptoms are so vague - tired...cant really eat, but not sick enough to be taken from me in such a short time. i find myself loosing hope at a time when i should be most hopeful...i want my father to be here to see me get married, to see his grandchildren...i just dont know how i am supposed to get through this...[/quote]

Hi,
I'm so sorry to hear about your dad. It's good news that he is eligible for a transplant. That's quite hopeful. Have the doctors discussed perhaps a living donor transplant?

Jen

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