Hello. Please excuse me if this doesn’t quite make sense or goes on a bit, but we’ve just had the worse news ever. My mother hasn’t been well for a few weeks and last week began to get very jaundiced. Last Thursday she was admitted to hospital for tests and scans. Up until yesterday, all people were talking about was gallstones, but this morning after reviewing the many scans that were taken, the consultant asked to see me with my mother on the ward. As he started to draw out something on a piece of paper, it was obvious that we weren’t talking about gallstones. He then described that it was quite a large tumour at the neck of the pancreas and that it was inoperable. My mother was/is suffering with painless jaundice and advanced pancreatic cancer. They are going to try and put a stent in next week to relieve and help my mom with her jaundice and a few other issues. I asked to speak to the doctor in the corridor and as we left the ward he just turned to me and said 3 to 6 months - he obviously knew what I was going to say. Now I don’t know what to do, think or say for the best. She is also my dads carer and so that is also worrying and scaring me too. Apologies for rambling on but in the space of 20 minutes both my parents and my life have exploded this morning and I feel totally out my depth as to what to do next.
Hi and a very warm welcome to the online community which I hope you'll find is both an informative and supportive place to be.
I'm sorry to read that your mum has recently been diagnosed with cancer and how you are feeling is perfectly normal.
As the online community is divided up into different support groups I'm going to recommend that you join the pancreatic cancer group, which is a great place to ask questions and share experiences with others who either have this type of cancer or have a loved one living with it, and also the supporting someone with incurable cancer group which is for carers, friends and families of people with a terminal diagnosis to discuss their emotions as well as practical issues about palliative care.
Clicking on the links I've created will take you to the groups where you can join and post in the same way as you did here. You can also join in with existing conversations by clicking on 'reply'.
It would be great if you could pop something about your mum's diagnosis and proposed treatment into your profile as it really helps others when replying to you and also when looking for someone on a similar pathway. It also means that you don't have to keep repeating yourself. To do this click on your username and then select 'Profile'. You can amend it at any time and if you're not sure what to write you can take a look at mine by clicking on my username.
If you have any difficulty navigating the community just drop me a reply and I'll be pleased to help
x
"Never regret a day in your life, good days give you happiness, bad days give you experience"
