Mum - Anaplastic Thyroid Cancer

Hi Helly B  and a warm welcome to the Macmillan Community but so sorry to hear about your mum’s diagnosis.

A cancer diagnosis in the family like this can be such a challenging and stressful time but getting support from others who are dealing with the ‘exact same' support challenges can help you a lot……. I have a completely different type of cancer and treatment journey.

This New to Community area is like our reception desk where we try to direct you to the best part of the Community for you to get support.

The Community is actually divided into dedicated Support Groups (Discussion Rooms) and when it comes to the practical and emotional challenges of supporting your mum and indeed yourself you may benefit from joining and posting in our……

     Carers only

     Supporting someone with incurable cancer

……. support groups where you will connect with a wide range of members navigating the exact same support challenges.

To connect with a group click on the “Bold Italic Links” I have created above …… then once the group page opens click in the [Black - Click to Join - Banner] that appears at the bottom of the page and this will then confirm that you have joined the group.

When you are ready……. you can introduce yourself by putting up your very own post by clicking [+ Create new post] or [+] in the top right of the group page.

You can copy and paste the text from this post into your new post.

It is an emotional time supporting family so you might find this Macmillan information your feelings when someone has cancer helpful as well as this link getting help with your emotions.

The Macmillan Support Line is open between 8am-8pm (timings may differ across services) 7 days a week on 0808 808 00 00…… this service provides cancer information, practical information, emotional support, benefits/financial guidance or just a listening ear.

Talking to people ‘face to face’ can be very helpful so do check to see if you have any Local Macmillan Support in your area, do also check for a local Maggie's Centre as these folks are amazing.

Do get back to me if you need further help navigating the community ((hugs))

Hi Helly B 

So sorry to hear about your mum. 
My mother in law died from this last year. From diagnosis to her passing away was a matter of only two months. There is no treatment as you point out. 
Mum was kept comfortable at home. She had a hospital bed delivered and MacMillan hospice at home. Together with the nurses and her children she was well looked after as her frail body just shut down. Maybe if your mum does get home you could arrange hospice care through your GP, for her last weeks. 
I wish you all the best through this rotten time. 

Thank you so much for taking the time to reply. I did speak to the discharge planning team yesterday and they were very good in explaining mum will receive full funding for district nurse care. We are waiting to hear from the occupational therapist.

It’s all a new world to me so I really appreciate your advice 

For my mum in law it was a question of keeping her pain free and hydrated. She had one of those sports bottles with a straw to drink from. She managed to use a commode till the last few days when she shut down and just fell asleep never to wake. 

Mum will need daily turning and creaming of her back and bottom or she will get bed sores pretty quickly. Quite a few of us took turns along with her nurses. 

Practical things kept the family busy. Grief came later.

Hugs

Thank you