Nov
16
Please Help! Urgent Cancer Question?
Filed Under (Pancreatic Cancer) by admin on 16-11-2009
Tagged Under : Cancer, Help, Please, Question, Urgent
Ok my uncle got diagnosed with colon cancer about 1.5 years ago. They removed his colon, and found more cancer in his pancreas and lots of other areas. To make the story shorter I’ll skip ahead to the present. I saw him about 4 weeks ago, he had jaundice but other than that he seemed fine. Then a week later he was given 6 weeks to live, because the cancer spread so much that they couldn’t remove it. Please tell me the chances of him exceeding this limit, and by how much? I don’t expect a long time because pancreatic cancer takes a toll on the organs needed most (other than the heart & brain). Do not answer unless you have some experience in this field of knowledge! Please help, I need to know how much time I have left.
If your Uncle was jaundiced when you saw him 4-weeks ago, that was actually a very bad sign.
When people with Cancer, or any other disease for that matter, become jaundiced, it’s a sign that the disease has spread to the Liver, and the Liver is no longer able to fight off the effects of disease; in short, the Liver is no longer functioning. It’s probably more Cancer than Liver by now, and the Liver can’t filter the blood the way it’s supposed to any longer. People become jaundiced as toxins build up in their bodies due to the Liver failing. If your Uncle was jaundiced 4-weeks ago, he was already a very sick man who was well on his way to dying.
If the doctors said your Uncle had about 6-weeks to live when they saw him 3-weeks ago, you truly don’t have much time left to spend with him. He might be able to extend that by a week, or even maybe by a month ~ no one really knows.
When doctors tell patients they have a certain amount of time left to live, the doctors are basing that on what they’ve seen in their personal experience, having worked with other patients who are as sick as your Uncle is now. In truth, how long your Uncle lasts is, at least in part, up to him; it really depends on how strong an individual he is, and how determined he is to stick around.
No one can predict how long another person can “hang in there”, not even doctors. If I were you, though, I wouldn’t waste a lot of time hoping that your Uncle is strong enough to last as long as you want, or need, him to. As each day passes, he will get sicker and sicker, and weaker and weaker. At some point, he’s going to need to rest; he’s going to need to know that it’s OK, that he doesn’t have to fight any more. He will have earned the right to be at peace, and we have to let him go.
I’m so sorry you’re having to go through this; it’s difficult to lose someone you love, especially to a disease as relentless as Cancer seems to be. Sometimes, it just seems like Cancer will never give up until it wins, and it’s taken some wonderful people from us throughout the years.
But don’t let this make you too angry; Cancer doesn’t always win and it isn’t always a death sentence. You have to remain hopeful the next time someone you know is touched by Cancer; you can’t give up hope that, someday, we’ll be able to cure all forms of this disease. That’s what I’m hoping, because I’m fighting Ovarian Cancer right now.
As soon as you’re able, take some time and go see your Uncle ~ before it’s too late and he’s gone from you. Spend time with him while you still can, tell him how much you love him, then say your good-byes. I know it will be hard, but you’ll feel better having done it, and so will he. Trust me.
My thoughts and prayers will be with you and your Uncle as you go through this tough time together. Just remember, a death is always hardest on the ones left behind. Your Uncle’s pain and suffering will be over, while your’s will have just begun. Stay strong, and try to remember that he’s in a better place where there is no more sickness or pain.
Wishing you all the best,
MinPin
There is no accurate answer to how much time is left here, pancreatic cancer is quick, in my experience; the pancreatic cancer took 9 weeks to take my friend, but some patients in the same treatment group died earlier or later. Please just cherish everyday as if it’s the last. Tell him every day how you feel if you can. Go in an read to him or play checkers if he’s able too. As hard as it is to watch him die, it’s much harder to be the one slowly dying.
he doesn’t have much time left,and you should be thankfull, because it is very painfull, i have too much experience, you should spend as much time as you can,you won’t forget it. i am sorry
Talk to his doctors. Seriously, why the hell do you think that people on Yahoo Answers know better than your uncle’s doctors? You piss me off. I’m sorry that your uncle is dying, I really am, but honestly, there’s nothing that anything on here can do.
Not sure if this helps. My colleague’s sister-in-law got cancer and doctor says she has eight days left. My colleague bought her lingzhi powder to eat and she still lives. Maybe you can try. Ehm…not sure what brand she bought.
Nellie – we don’t really “give” our patients six weeks to live, but I understand what you are saying. The doctors are stating average survivals. Every patient / person is different. The jaundice is an end stage sign that his bile duct is probably blocked by growing malignancy. Often people who die from liver failure are not aware or responsive near the end. If this were my uncle, I’d spend as much time as I could with him right now. If he survives beyond this summer, the diagnosis must not be quite right. You can often tell when time is getting short by metal alertness. If he is thinking clearly, there is usually some time left.
I took care of people like this for 20 years, so I know about these situations. If I could have “given” people many more good quality years to live, I would have. One of my partners – a young doctor in my cancer specialty group – died this way in his mid-thirties. Our best treatments fall flat with intra-abdominal gastro-intestinal adenocarcinomas which are widespread as you describe for your uncle. Comfort, support, and symptom management should be the highest priority here. Hospice care is the order of the day. I want to be at home if or when I’m in this situation myself.