Friendly Doctor, But doesn't give prognosis or seem to see how serious the condition is. Please Help

Lobsterdinner

My younger brother has Stage 4 Colon Cancer. He was diagnosed almost one year ago. They did surgery to remove the tumor in his colon. He underwent Chemo right away. The PET scans have shown the cancer getting worse each time. It metastasized to his liver on the first PET Scan. The last PET scan showed it moved to the lungs. He has been receiving chemo for about 9 months…………………….. When it got to the lungs they increased his chemo to that very high F. U. 5 dose. This put him in the hospital for 3 days. He developed 3 blood clots in the lungs the doctor says due the the new chemo regimen.…Oh it gets worse!! He also has major pain in the Esophagus and has had that for about a month. It has caused him not to be able to eat and he has been on a liquid diet since the hospitalization. He is has been home from the hospital for two weeks. He is has lost 45 pounds and still loosing……… The esophagus pain has gone away a lot. Not able to do any procedures on the esophagus due to the blood thinners.

They gave him a Chemo treatment one week ago. He is getting weaker and weaker every day. He can no longer drive. He can not leave his house as he does not have enough energy. He can't even check his mail. No energy at all !!! Zero !!! He sleeps all day in a living room chair. He is 58 years old. Prior to the last 4-5 months-he rode his pedal bike every day, and swam. He's always been a very active, physically fit guy. People always thought he was in his 40's when he was pushing 60.

My question is: What is going on with him still getting chemo. Why? ? He's so WEAK !

He does want to fight and keep fighting, but I am watching him in real time get so frail and weak.

He has level 8 -9 pain in his back. My online research tells me it is possibly a new tumor and /or the Liver being inflamed and pushing on the nerves causing intense pain. He sits with a heating pad all day-every day. He is now taking strong pain relievers 2X a day-and the fought so hard to not have to take them-but now needs them.

1/2 the time they don't seem to work. He is still in pain 2 hours after taking them.

I live 3 hours away. I am moving in with him this week. It has now come to that point. However, we were at the Oncologist 5 days ago and they don't give us any idea of prognosis. It seems sadly-to me…… that he is now actively dying. ? ? I can barely write it. Yet they have him taking his chemo treatment in a few days.

I have palliative / home health care finally coming next week for an evaluation. Thank goodness he agreed to it. I've tired beef and he has not wanted palliative care. I had to inquire with the dr. office who to call. They don't offer any information at all to the family, or the patient.

Any and all advice would be so greatly appreciated. I am the only family living in the State. We have another brother 12 hours away that comes to help often. Mom and Dad are gone. His wife passed away last year (age 56) of Kidney failure. This is the hardest thing I have ever experienced in my life-and I've raised kids. Nothing tears you apart like watching your love one suffer so much. Thanks for reading.