Caring For Brother With Brain Mets

FormerMember
FormerMember
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  1. Icommunity.

My brother is 41 years old. He has secondary brain cancer. Having being diagnosed approximately two years ago and treated with immunotherapy, he is now palliative care only and is currently being cared for in our local hospice.

He has a right-sided hemiplegia, transient confusion/memory issues and localised tremors. In the last few days he has had to be been transferred via hoist. He is clearly deteriorating but his is life expectancy is undeterminable.

In terms of future care, the doctors have, in passing, mentioned a nursing home. I simply cannot bear the thought of this. He still has capacity and knows exactly what's going on. As hard as it would be, I would sooner care for him at home, in conjunction with a supporting care package.

I'd be interested to know if anyone has had a similar experience.

Emma x 

  • HI Emma

    welcome to the online community. So sorry to hear about your brother.

    I saw that you had posted in the new to the community group and that Mike "the HIghlander" had reached out with some words of wisdom. To add to what he said, there's also a Brain cancer forum - Macmillan Online Community. I am the community champion for that group.

    My husband was given a terminal diagnosis in early Sept 2020 (primary brain tumour) and like your brother has suffered memory issues and confusion since his surgery. In our case, his tumour was in the speech/language and understanding area of the brain so we were told to expect these issues. it doesn't make them any easier to live with though so I can empathise with you here.

    We're not at the stage yet of needing a care package so I can't offer any words of wisdom on that other than speak to your brother's team and your GP and work out what's bets for all of you here. 

    I'm sure there are others within this group who'll be able to offer some guidance to you too.

    For now though, I'm sending you both a huge virtual hug.

    Stay strong.

    love n hugs

    Wee Me xx

    Macmillan Support Line - 0808 808 00 00, 7 days a week between 8am-8pm