My mother who is 72 has just been diagnosed with the cancer above. She is very frail and has not been offered and medical treatment which i understand. Although i feel that now we have left the hospital there doesn's seem to be anything else we can do. She has been given 6 months life expectantcy, i just feel that the support is minimal considering what we are facing.
The palative nurse at the hospital has ref back to GP who has sent a ref to local support but it all seems so slow, it would be nice to speak to some one who can give us a bit of indication on what to expect at each stage.
Thank you
Carol
The nurses on this site may be able to give you some answers. In the Cancer Information box at the right hand side of this page you will see Ask a nurse written in blue. Click on this and ask your questions. You could also ask your GP for a referral to a Macmillan nurse.
Dad in law had the same thing last year. Local social services arranged for a bed to be installed downstairs for him, oxygen kit, home care and all sorts of stuff. This all came about following a discussion with his GP. He was visited every day at least once by a MacMillan nurse and when we needed a nights sleep and a break from caring for him a Marie Curie nurse used to sit with him at night, towards the end. They all really helped him a lot.
All this ought to be available to you but I'm not sure how you go about organising it. However, like Kate said, a good starting point would be ASK A NURSE on this site and also contact your mum's GP.
I'm so sorry to hear your news. My Dad died at home from cancer and he had a lot of support from Macmillan so I would urge you to ask your GP for what you need. But meantime you must be feeling so helpless and I think this time, between diagnosis and something happening is so very difficult. You'll find lots of support on here anyway, so stat in touch and let us know how you get on. Thinking of you.
Sorry to hear about your mum's illness. My dad (89) has recently broken his arm and then his waterworks packed up so a lot of hassle as you can imagine (but not life threatening). Anyway, we had great help from Social Services who sent out a care co-ordinater to assess his needs and to set up a package of care. It took a few days to get it sorted but I can't fault the service they provided. So with that and help from Macmillan, you should be well sorted quite quickly. You need all the help you can get during this difficult time so don't be afraid to ask for it.
My Muminlaw was diagnosed in April with the same - see my blog for info
I understand how you are feeling - but help is out there just make sure you get all the help you need
We now have all the numbers we need and they are at the end of the telephone when we have any problems - we have homecare in the mornings and the District nurse and Mcmillan nurse are seeing mum regularly
Any time you need to chat just pm me - i will pm you and then you will have a link ready made if you need it
