Hi. My wife has been living with Cancer on and off for the last five years. Two years ago she was diagnosed with metastatic colon cancer in the lungs. Last year it was diagnosed as stage 4. She is currently having chemo for the third time, and has had radio therapy twice. She also had bowel and lung surgery.
since the end of June this year I have noticed a huge decline in her health. Her breathing is t at all good due to a tumour in her trachea starting to block her airway, and others across what’s left of the left lung and the right lung.
she just received a date for laser surgery to burn away the tumour in the trachea. They say it should help with her breathing. Can anyone tell me how successful this can be? Also, as a carer I’m struggling to find any answers as to the natural progression of this god awful illness. Are there sign we should look for to gauge where on the chart we are from diagnosis to heading towards that downward spiral. I’m currently off work, and feel like I just can’t plan. I’ve many more questions. Just looking for some help and advice. Thanks.
Hi Grubber
Welcome to our community I hope you find it useful.
Sorry nobody replied to your post earlier, I had seen it but as my wife's cancer is very different I did not really have any answers to your questions. I know many people ask about signs but then even with patients in hospice the front line experts struggle with that.
I most often post in either Family and friends forum and Carers only forum because that is where most of my experience lies though I can certainly relate to issues with breathing both for my wife and myself with both of us from time to time ending up in hospital.
Hope your work is being supportive. I ended up doing a living with less stress course with Maggies that really helped me. I realized I was living in a future I could not control and I managed to imagine things much worse than actually happened and that was preventing me from enjoying what we had each day. The conscious breathing exercises were also great for coping when life chose to throw another curveball at us.
<<hugs>>
Steve
