End Stages??

CherylMike

My husband is battling head and neck cancer (diagnosed in 9-07) which has metastized to his bones, liver, lungs, kidneys. . . He weight has gone from 215 to 169. He sleeps 24 hours a day, just gets up for doctor appointments and to get his medicine or milkshakes. He is now hallucinating and his stomach is large and firm. (He said that it is painful). He has tumors all over his torso. Some are turning purple (which means that they are probably infected - he is waiting on the results of a CT scan to see if they need to be lanced). His white cell count is very high and his sodium is also elevated. Has anyone else gone through this or is going through this? I am not sure if he is at the end or not. His doctor told us he would not make it to the holidays, but this week said if he continues on his chemo (methotrexine?) that he could live years? He has undergone every "gold standard" treatment there is for head and neck. This current treatment is used in Canada, but no very much in the US.

sue Siwek

i think your doctor is
i think your doctor is confusing you. ask for a meeting with him so that he can make himself clear. if he won't maybe you should seek help elsewhere. if you are satisfied with his care of your husband then ask him to tell you why he seems to be wavering. certainly some of the things you have talked about, infection, high white count and high sodium indicates things are not well.

grandmafay

I think sometimes drs find
I think sometimes drs find it hard to talk to us. I had to ask our onc. to be "brutally honest" with us several times during this journey. I asked for clarification many times. I agree, schedule an appointment and don't leave until you are totally satisfied with the answers to your questions. The not knowing if the hardest. My husband really appreciated it when I did this I often started with, "This may be a question I won't like the answer to, but I have to ask it." Best of luck finding answers. Fay