I've been caring for my uncle since he was diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer in Feb. I learnt to drain his abdomen of ascites and took him to his appointments.
He tried chemotherapy but gave up on it. Everything was calm through March and April but at the beginning of May his bowel became obstructed. We called the paramedics, they came and left, saying that the hospital was too full!
There were loads of people staying but they went to bed and I was left looking at him and realising that he really needed to be in hospital. Somehow I got him in the car and gd vomited like ice never seen before. We gog to A&E, where they put an NG tube in (that's the most traumatic thing I've ever witnessed in my life). I stayed with him all night and then he was admitted.
He has since gone into a hospice. He hasn't eaten anything for 6 weeks, and is now only sipping tiny amounts of fluid, but still he carries on. How does the body do it? His brain is still sharp as a tac.
It's all been very, very distressing. Treatment is medieval. Why are people still having to endure long, drawn out deaths?
