Palliative care but can’t see any “ quality of life “

Hello Teddycozz 

Thanks for getting in touch and welcome to the Online Community. I’m Debbie, one of the cancer information nurse specialists on the Macmillan Support Line. I am so sorry to hear of your mum’s situation and can understand how difficult it must have been for you all since your mum was diagnosed with breast cancer. I see that you have joined the carers-only forum and hope that you will find it helpful.

Here at the Macmillan Support Line, we can give general information and support. We are independent from the NHS and don’t have access to medical records. We can’t give personalised information as we are not directly involved in your mum’s care. It seems as though your mum is at home at the moment. Looking after someone with cancer at home can be exhausting and emotionally draining, especially when you have so many other responsibilities and also your work.

From your message it is not clear what kind of support you have, if any. For example, you could ask your mum’s GP for a referral to your local community palliative care team who can visit at home and advise on pain and symptom control. The palliative care team gives specialist information and supportive care, including symptom control and advance care planning, as well as help with emotional and spiritual support. The team involves specialist nurses and doctors, pharmacists, social workers, and psychological support staff. 

If your mum already has contact with a local palliative care team, you can phone them and ask them to visit today. The team can see what else they can do to help your mum and can assess your mum’s medicines to adjust those if needed. The palliative care team also provides help and emotional support to family members and can help to support you too at this difficult time. We have information on other support services on our website that may be helpful to you.

Your mum’s treatment team at the hospital are best placed to talk about her treatment with you. Chemotherapy can sometimes help to reduce symptoms such as pain but it can also sometimes cause unpleasant side effects. The doctors need to balance the possible benefit of the treatment against the risk of side effects. We could talk this through with you.

If you are very worried about your mum and feel that she needs to be assessed straight away, we recommend that you contact the hospital team, community palliative care team, or your mum’s GP. You need to call NHS 111 at weekends, or in the evenings, or at night when other services are closed. Please do report any symptoms of concern, even if you feel that they are already aware.

Getting your mum’s pain under control is important and we have some information about managing pain on our website. It might be easier for you to phone us and discuss this, because then we can get a better idea of your situation and can help you more. The number to call is 0808 808 0000 and we are open from 8am to 8pm, every day. Please do phone us so that we can help you to get support for your mum more quickly.

It is so nice to see you sending love to other people in similar situations. That will be very supportive to many people. Thank you for using the online community to do that.

With best wishes

Debbie

Cancer Information Nurse Specialist 

Ref**/DC/AO

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