I am 23 years old and lost my mother to Pancreatic Cancer in August of 2008. She battled this awful disease for 18 months. 14 months of that she continued to work, enjoy her time with her family and taking trips away overseas. She was determined not to let it get her down, however long she had she was going to make of the most it. But as time went on she slowly began to go down hill, things were getting harder, she was tired a lot more, short of breath, in a lot of pain, becoming dilerous at times, lost a lot of weight and became jaundice but she still fought through. It is a horrible and awful way for some one to leave this world, my advice to you is don't concentrate on what it is going to be like when that time comes, but to do the best you can now with the time you have. But in the end of August 17th at 5:15 am my mothers battle was over and she was finally at peace. It was 3 days of her in a hospital bed, not being able to move, being scared, confused and in pain. Then by day 2 she was in a morphine induced coma and the last words she spoke were I love you and then 12 hours later she was gone. As hard as it was to watch her go through that, she was strong and her final goodbye was peaceful and it was a relieve that she was no longer suffering from this cruel and unfair disease.
My mother is in her last days of PC. I wake up every day and look over hoping not to see her chest rise and fall. This is true agony - she is skeletal, weak, delirious, spaced-out, nauseated, and scared, and humiliated from all the enemas and general condition. Nobody can tell me how long it will be- if her heart doesn't stop because it's been invaded by the tumor, or she doesn't fall into a morphine-induced coma, I hear she will look jaundiced in the final day or two.
I can't believe we let so many beautiful, vibrant mothers and daughters, sisters and brothers and grandfathers go this way.
My mom was Diagnosed July 2010 with PC, she has also had MS for 20 years now! She is stuck in a hospital bed, because the MS she can't walk anymore. She is scared that stuff she did when she was a teenager is going to keep her from going to heaven. She is mad and blaming herself for this cancer. She is 4 months in now, but I don't know if we will make it to Christmas! I keep praying for peace for her, that she go quick and without pain. I also pray that everyone that has been touched by this cancer. God Bless
Are you sure you want to know? It's an ugly death, like most cancers, but to see your loved one trying to walk without muscles is hard to see. I have it and I look like I walked out of a death camp at the end of the war. My hair is gone and 2 years ago I could pass as 40, now I'm skeletal and people think I'm well into 70. I'm losing all my ability to do anything.
When my father was diagnosed with cancer throughout his body he came to live with us. We had help from hospice, nurses, and aids. Dad lived 8 months and the day he passed away in our living room. Dad was always afraid to be alone so we made sure that someone was with him at all times. The only thing you can do is love them, if they can talk remember fun times in the past or just be by their side. Everyone is different so it is hard to say what to expect. Dad didn't seem to be in any pain so the meds he got did their job. When I got up that morning I called our Dr. And she came out, she heard the gurgeling (he couldn't swallow or spit up and the infection oozed out of his mouth) Dr. Said he had two hours to two months to live and within the two hours he passed away very peacefully. I will keep you in my prayers as it is a terrible loss.
I have just lost my brother 2 days ago to pancreatic cancer. In Feb 2009 he had all the tests, a stent put in place which seemed to help. He lived alone, and carried on almost normally, was told it was already advanced as it often is. Months went by then he began filling up with a build-up of fluid. Every 2-3 wks it was drained in hospital, the last one was 14 litres. Not suffering greatly with any pain he did start to deteriorate this past 2 wks. The day before he died, was his 74th birthday and we were all there with him at home. He seemed very weak, slurry speech, then fainted on standing up. He began to cough up blood so we called an ambulance. We had a phone call from hospital to come in quickly (5 hrs later) as he was bringing up a lot of blood. He didn`t know we were there, he seemed semi-conscious. He stabilized during the early hours, then we rushed back again but it was too late. I think the cancer had obviously spread - possibly lungs? - but he is at peace now. Be strong for your mum. My thoughts are with you at this sad time.
Ask her physician to put you in touch with your local hospice. They can tell you what to expect and can come into her home and assist with end of life care. They will make sure she has everything she needs, especially adequate pain control. My prayers are with you and your mother
I lost a sister to cancer and now were losing a cousin, my best advice beside going through hospice is no matter how you try to prepare your self, you can't. just spend as much time as you can with her talk about everything ,make her comfortable and happy, keep her spirits up high and just hang in there, it's not easy losing some one you love and its hard on the heart. My Prayers are with you.
The pancreatic cancer is one of those cancers which has poor prognosis. Few patients survive 5 years after diagnosis. You should continue medicines as it will improve the quality of life until she is alive. Pancreatic cancer when spread to liver, causes life threatening problems.
