What to expect in the last stages

My husband has liver cancer he takes nexavar and has had 2 embolizations since September they say he is losing blood somewhere his red cells are always low and he has to have iron transfusions he is on transplant list but don't know how long g it qill be we have extra lost friends in the past year from like er cancer I get scared not knowing if he qill make it to transplant just wondering during how I know if he is near the end 

thesunlady said:

Liver Cancer
I was diagnoised in 2006 with liver cancer. I did the same thing as ur mom. Drs. were amazed with no explanation & had already told family I would not make it 24 hrs. but I woke up the next morning ready to eat! They said I need Liver transplant to survive, went for testing & prayed so hard for The Lord to let me know if it was right decission he let me no it was not after they made 3 bad mistakes I then spent alot of time in & out of hosptals, hospice & back to hospital. I had a chance to go to Dallas Methodist liver oncology unit for transplant! Upon arrival I had 3 tumors on liver they started me on chemo (Naxavar)& did 2 chemo implants into my liver!! I got so sick after 6 mos. chemo MRI showed 9 lrg tumors only 10% of liver working said to get things in order might make it 30 days. My neighbor (2weeks later) ran into a lady who had cured herself of terminal lung cancer (alernatively)& she asked her if she could help me. The answer was YES & she did help me!! Learn what I had to do & those 9 tumors turned to 1- 2cm tumor in a month!! Needless to say I am still here with my liver & healthy as can be I also am 58!! DON'T GIVE UP HOPE!! MDs do not know everything!!

Please don't fall for the cruel joke by the Sun Lady.  It's obvious that she hasn't responded to anyone because there is no truth to her statement.  Her post is full of inaccuracies.  Lady cured herself of lung cancer? 24 hrs to live? Liver transplant?

thank you for starting this thread, it's helped me more than you could know. 

My dad was diagnosed as terminal last  June and he's had a happy healthy 12 months until the last few weeks. 

He was admitted to hospital with infection and was still reasonably OK, as in he could walk, sleep, talk, eat and enjoy reading the papers. He's had such a good quality of life despite the illness, right up until the last week. 

Hes now got a swollen abdomen, swollen feet and legs, pain around the liver, and he's lost a lot of weight in a very short time. Today he was (for want of a better description) wild eyed, couldn't sit still, wanted to get up and do things and was so distressed at not being able to get out of bed that he could hardly breathe. I think this might be the end, that maybe his brain is reacting to toxins that his liver can no longer filter out. If anyone has any experience of what this is, I'd be grateful. Today was the hardest day so far.

To anyone with a recent diagnosis, we found that avoiding sugar and reducing  carbohydrates helped. My dad was given 3-6 months and was fully active for 12 months. Tumours eat glucose, so reducing it should slow the growth (it's NOT a cure though, of course, but there's some good science behind low carb diets for cancer and it's worth exploring). 

All my positive thoughts go out to anyone who finds this forum. You are not alone in this x

Hello, everyone,

i have been touched by your stories and in some cases your pleas. I am watching my sister slowly fail from stage IV colon cancer with many Mets to her liver. She was diagnosed 7/4/14.  She doesn’t talk about which chemo she is on, and she doesn’t share her diagnosis or details- even with her husband. She wants to just keep going until she can’t. Recently, she started having severe symptoms. Confusion, seizures, massive fatigue. Apparently, the chemo she is on causes her electrolytes to become critically low. Her potassium and magnesium were 0.02. Critical is 1.2. Her calcium was a 5. That should be 8-10- also critically low. Now that those are coming back she has bounced back again. We see she is end-stage. She has had bloating and the chirrohis effects for over a year. Her eyes are currently dark yellow. However, she still has the will and motivation to live. We will let her do her thing until she is ready. I will try to update as we go. I am a research fanatic. I have the *need* to know what is happening, which is hard since everyone is different. I will try to keep her story current. 

I lost my father one week ago, I can remember in his last two weeks I needed someone to tell me what to expect and how to deal with these difficult  moments, so I will try to describe these last days hoping that it can make it easy for you. My father had stomach cancer metastatic to liver, he did 5 sessions of chemo but the low blood level didn't allow him to continue, and his liver stopped functioning correctly so basically he died bcz of the cancer attack on his liver, that started with the very low albumin that made him feel so tired and decreased his appetite day after day, just 10 days before he died he was able to take stairs and go toilet by himself, a week before he needed someone to help him to stand and walk, but last 3 days he was unable to stand at all and he spent time in bed sleeping, he wake up just to take medicines or to welcome visitors, not more than 5 min and he go back to sleep, every time he opens his eye I ask him if he feels any pain, he said no, Then last two days he started vomiting blood (brown liquide) and only on the last day he refused to take tramadol, in the last 3 days he started also talking in his sleep and even sometimes when he open his eyes, he started talking about traveling! But we couldn't understand everything he said, even if he used to say that he is not feeling any pain I was so afraid bcz his breathing change sometimes and he used to put his hand on his stomach so I was wondering if he does feel pain but cant express that clearly. Othet thing his eyes turned yellow in the last week and his feet was inflated with blue marks, and was clear how difficult for him to move his legs or even to turn the other side in his sleep, it is extremely difficult to see the most important person in your life in such situation especially a great man like my father with the kindest heart I have ever seen. I took the strength from prayers and quoran and I never cried on front of him, in his last two days I started telling him that he will be in better place and that it is ok to let go, I told him that I will take care of my sister and of his wife, and I gave him a lot of hugs and kisses, didn't leave him at all. 30 min Before he died he opened his eyes ask for my aunt kissed her hand, kissed me and everyone in the house to say goodbye and then lost consciousness, but this time his eyes didn't close, till the last breathe.

My advise is to get ready, make your loved ones comfortable, focus on their comfort not on the pain you are feeling, if they cant move anymore prepare diapers, sensitive skin tissues, dont say something they dont want to hear, bcz till the last moment they can hear everything even when they are sleeping, you will be surprised, even if they are confused you cant know when the clarity moments will show up. If they know they are dying ask what are their wishes.

If you believe in god pray a lot and ask for strength, forgiveness and pain relief.

Imanitasong

Imanitasong said:

What to expect in terminal stage liver cancer (last week)

I lost my father one week ago, I can remember in his last two weeks I needed someone to tell me what to expect and how to deal with these difficult  moments, so I will try to describe these last days hoping that it can make it easy for you. My father had stomach cancer metastatic to liver, he did 5 sessions of chemo but the low blood level didn't allow him to continue, and his liver stopped functioning correctly so basically he died bcz of the cancer attack on his liver, that started with the very low albumin that made him feel so tired and decreased his appetite day after day, just 10 days before he died he was able to take stairs and go toilet by himself, a week before he needed someone to help him to stand and walk, but last 3 days he was unable to stand at all and he spent time in bed sleeping, he wake up just to take medicines or to welcome visitors, not more than 5 min and he go back to sleep, every time he opens his eye I ask him if he feels any pain, he said no, Then last two days he started vomiting blood (brown liquide) and only on the last day he refused to take tramadol, in the last 3 days he started also talking in his sleep and even sometimes when he open his eyes, he started talking about traveling! But we couldn't understand everything he said, even if he used to say that he is not feeling any pain I was so afraid bcz his breathing change sometimes and he used to put his hand on his stomach so I was wondering if he does feel pain but cant express that clearly. Othet thing his eyes turned yellow in the last week and his feet was inflated with blue marks, and was clear how difficult for him to move his legs or even to turn the other side in his sleep, it is extremely difficult to see the most important person in your life in such situation especially a great man like my father with the kindest heart I have ever seen. I took the strength from prayers and quoran and I never cried on front of him, in his last two days I started telling him that he will be in better place and that it is ok to let go, I told him that I will take care of my sister and of his wife, and I gave him a lot of hugs and kisses, didn't leave him at all. 30 min Before he died he opened his eyes ask for my aunt kissed her hand, kissed me and everyone in the house to say goodbye and then lost consciousness, but this time his eyes didn't close, till the last breathe.

My advise is to get ready, make your loved ones comfortable, focus on their comfort not on the pain you are feeling, if they cant move anymore prepare diapers, sensitive skin tissues, dont say something they dont want to hear, bcz till the last moment they can hear everything even when they are sleeping, you will be surprised, even if they are confused you cant know when the clarity moments will show up. If they know they are dying ask what are their wishes.

If you believe in god pray a lot and ask for strength, forgiveness and pain relief.

Imanitasong

My mom was diagnosed in March 2013 with Colon Cancer according to the doctors she had this tumor in her intestine for about two years prior. She went through a tough chemo at first taking avastin and then went through remission for 5 months, it came back in april 2015 and it came back stronger than ever, her cancer had spread to her lymph nodes meaning she was now on Stage 3 , she went through another chemo after that which didn’t worked and then started a clinical trial with no success, the second clinical trial was bad and now her cancer had spread to her liver with multiple tumors and spread to her uterus and now her lungs multiple nodules . About 4 weeks ago she stopped taking Labsurf and started feeling short of breath, abdominal pain, unable to walk, headaches, liver pain, back pain, sleeping , lost of appetite.About 7 days ago we took her to ER because she had swelling in her belly, very firm belly. She was unable to stand straight because of it, they extracted fluid from her belly which is called parancentisis, doctors just gave her the news that she has weeks of survival and she is now in hospice care, i sleep in the same room with her in seperate bed but i am scare to wake up and her not breathing , she currently moans or makes some sort of discomfort sound in her sleep but it stops and it comes back minutes later. I really don’t know how much time she has, her eyes are yellow and she’s disoriented she recently told me that she’s deaf at times and then shes able to hear again. What other signs should I be looking for? she has a hard time urinitating now and her stool is loose when she does go to bathroom.  Please email me if anyone can provide guidance or comments <Content removed by CSN Support Team>.

I hate to ask but I'm so worried and I don't know what's going to happen next.

My mom is 55 her tummy is swollen really big, she is always tired and sleeps a lot.

Today I noticed she is very yellow and so are her eyes.

What happens next?

Does the severe jaundice mean death is near?

Is it a horrible death?

I'm so scared

Mandie18 said:

Me too

Hi Laren1984, Your post caught my eye cause it s so new. I was here also to get answers, my 62 year old mother is in the final stages of liver cancer. She was diagnosed October 2017 and it has progessed quickly. I don't know it all, but I can tell you what I have learned from doctors, nurses, etc. My moms stomach was big also, called ascites, the fluid is building up the belly due to decreased liver function. My mom also got fluid in her chest causing it to be hard to breathe. They drained her tummy at the hospital, then they did the chest, it filled up again so quickly that they put in a permanent tube we can drain at home (hopefully a nurse). My mom is jaundice - yellow in skin and eyes. I have learned people can live with jaundice for a while, the issue is the liver not working causes the toxins in the system to back up and cause issues usually with their mind, they start getting confused and can go into a coma. The pain can be bad, mainly due to the actual liver dying and fluid causing pressure, but pain meds will help a lot and make her comfortable until the end. My mom was really tired and slept a lot and barely ate, then after they drained her chest the 2nd time, shes walking around again, much less sleepy and eating a little more. It is so strange, but I know that doesn't mean she's better - just that we are having some good days. You may want to see if they can drain the fluid from her tummy, that made my mom a LOT more comfortable and allowed her to eat better. Praying for your mom!

Mandie18

My dear MIL was diagnosed in November 2017 with advanced stage metastatic liver cancer. It has spread to her hip and lungs. She began gemcitabine/Cisplatin chemo back in December and just finished her 3rd cycle. She has declined so rapidly. She sleeps all the time, drinks a little when she wakes up for a minute, but isn’t hardly eating at all. The doctor seems to think she should complete 5 more cycles of chemo and has told ya that her quality of life will suffer if she’s discontinued treatment. Her quality of life is already so depleted, it’s hard to imagine it getting any worse. Isn’t that what hospice care is? To help her be more comfortable? She is on a pain patch with meds for breakthrough pain so she stays relatively comfortable. But she’s has hip pain, pain in her abdomen, right shoulder, and jaundice. All day yesterday all she ate was a bit of applesauce. I guess my question is ho do you know when is the right time to transfer to hospice care? FYI her last scan showed growth in the two large masses in her liver liver, but a decrease in the cancer me her hip. The doctor seemed to think this was a positive thing, but this was after two cycles of chemo and the liver masses grew. How do you know what you should do? We’re at a loss.

My story is much the same as yours. No treatment and determined to do my own thing....am well at the moment with liver metasteses and wondered what you did to help reduce your tumours. Please let me know, it would be really appreciated.  

PS I thought I was replying to Sunlady ...oops..then read a comment to suggest that she wasn't being honest...Any thoughts anyone?

momfriend said:

mJones

Thank you For all your info. My son-in-law was diagnosed in Feb. He is taking the Nexavar and the liver tumors are "stable" The disease has spread to lymph and other organs.
Have you heard about the trial being offered at Sloan? We head there in a couple of weeks.
I wish you all the best. I think you are very brave and hope you will consider the Nexavar.
God Bless you and please stay in touch. momfriend

i’d like To chat with you