ask: end of life signals for pancreatic cancer patient

my mother is 77 years old and was diagnosed with inoperable PC November 2012. She has a biliary drain that has been replaced 4 times and has taken Gemzar chemo for the past 3 months. This weekend her legs started to swell and she is feeling congested. She is taking mucinex for the phlegm but what do we do for the swelling in her legs? All the doctor said is this is a typical side effect from the chemo. Her legs feel tight and tingly and looks very uncomfortable. Does anyone have thoughts about the fluid? Do we need to worry about it? Thank you - caregiver13

My Nana is 89 years old and was diagnosed in Jan 2011. She did the radiation and actually went into remission in Jan of 2012. In Spetember 2012 her pc came back with a vengance. She has since lost about 30 pounds. She's barely eating (only picking at food, she stays nauseated, her pain has increased significantly. She spends most of her time asleep, lost almost all control of her bladder and bowel functions. In the last few days it appears that the jaundice has shown back up. She is so weak that she can no longer get back and forth to the bathroom so hospice is bringing a potty for her bedroom. A hospice nurse has been coming 2-3 times a week now for months. My mother and Aunt are with my Nana 24 hours a day. They have taken her pain and nausea medicine and cut the pills in half to give her every 30-45 minutes instead of the prescribed 2 tablets every 4-6 hours. I"m hoping that hospice will suggest the iv pain meds very soon. How can we estimate how much time she may have left? PLEASE, any info that you can provide to help me and my family in this transition would greatly help us. Please.

My father passed away Dec. 1 (4 dayIs ago) from pancreatic cancer. He was diagnosed 3 weeks ago. His decline was so unbelievably quick. It's like a freight train came barreling thru all of our lives. I will describe what the last month of his life was like and maybe it will help identify if it's truly the end for the person you know who is currently suffering. My dad lost 60 lbs in one year. Then in the last month gained 15 lbs in just fluid from malignant ascites. He looked 9 months pregnant. He had one round of chemo but on e the cancer was found he was already too weak to handle the treatment just from the cancer alone. I should mention he had mets to his liver and lungs. His liver was really effected. He became jaundice. After he decided to decline further treatments, we called in Hospice. They were absolutely wonderful. We were so exhausted from constantly lifting and maneuvering my 200 lb dad because he could not get comfortable at all. It was nice for them to come in and give us meds to help with dilerium. However the meds put him in a drug induced coma so we had to trade in him being able to communicate with us in his last few days for his comfort, which was hard but the right thing to do for him. I highly recommend hospice if you know you've reached the end of the road. It is not pretty to watch and it is very unfair for the person going thru the cancer to have to deal with the discomfort and constant pain. They made my father so comfortable and he went in his sleep.

Thank you for having this amazing thread. It's great to see so many people keeping strong. As most of you know November is pancreatic cancer month, join the campaign for a great cause: accessorizeforawareness.com/

I'm going through this with my mother. She was diagnosed (from what I believe) in May. It is currently almost October (5 months later) and I now see her decline. I, at first noticed her weight loss...but she put on a strong front. Now, she, in my opinion is a Guinea pig in a sense that her pain management, and her appetite medication is trial and error. I too have seen her eat like a champ, other days I hear she only eats a yogurt and several Iced coffees through the day. If she loses her desire to drink Duncan Donut's iced coffee, I know she's losing it..(trying to find humor through this) It's hard for me to watch her totally "with it" but trapped inside a body that is shutting down. All your information has helped me Susan, thank you all for being out there.

hi my nan has pc we are finding things hard right now and not really sure what to do here is my story maybe you could give me advice . my nan was having trouble with going to the toilet she was very lose and going very often also she turned bright yellow ,she then desided to go to her doctor who then sent her for a scan after that a ct scan the results was as bad as they could be she has pc the trouble is she wont let anyone or any doctors tell her what she has wrong with her all she knows is she has cancer but she refuses to be told what kind . ishe has started a mild kimo that is makeing her so un well . me and my aunte have been doing all the talking to doctors for her .they have told us she is stage 4 with this desease . im worried at the moment as her belly looks like she is 6 month pregnant her feet can not even fit into shoes /slippers . she has not really been out and she doesnt often want visitors its really worrying us as she has always been so active she was never home she always loved our company .what really are the last signs as i really dont have any idea what to be expecting .i lost my mum 2 years ago and now this my mum was 46 and has hit me very hard as well . im doing my best for my nan when she lets me also my aunte is also but we think my nan does belive the kimo will make her better none of us have the heart to tell her she is dieing please help any advice ? and what happens to people weeks before the end ?

My grandfather right now is in his mid 60's. Im not sure when he was diagnosed with p.c.but he was put into the hospital three weeks ago. My family and I came down 9 days ago. At first everything seemed ok, he was talking and hugging, he had to have a oxygen mask and the big weight loss and that seemed to be the least of his problems. He wanted to live, but the doctors couldnt do anything about the cancer yet because he had double pneumonia and three blood clots in which needed to be taken care of. He had been taking breathing treatments for his pneumonia so that it could break it up and cough up the liquid. Over the next few days, all he wanted to do was sleep, but had too much pain to sleep. He became accustomed to my mom taking care of him hand and foot, and always wanted more pain medicine. After a while, his sentences became shorter, and he got upset at all the visitors who visited (he got at least 1o a day). Once he was able to sleep, he seemed to rarely wake up from it, just to wake up and moan and yelling "no" to the pain he was receiving. You could feel the rattle in his lungs, which still has the fluids in it from the pneumonia , which he is too weak to cough up. He now cant even talk, and when he does "wake up" or have his eyes open, it looks like he is staring into the distance, rather than at the people who are surrounding him with love. The only movement we can get from him his the flinging of his arms when he is agitated or uncomfortable. He has been like this for 3 to 4 days. The doctors gave him 24 hours three days ago, but he still gasps for breaths (8 breaths a minute). We talk to him all the time, I play the ukelele until he falls asleep(he was a bassist). I'm not sure if he can hear you, but the fact that the moment i thought he was asleep and stopped playing, he woke up and started to fling his arms around. I started again and he calmed down and slowly fell asleep. His mother who is 92 years old thinks he will wake up and become well, in which we all hope will happen. But he has been in a delusional state consciousness or just sleep and I just want to ask, the longest some one with the last stages of p.c last?