Hello All
You may remember me posting awhile back about my mother who had been diagnosed with bowel cancer which had spread to the liver.
The chemo course she was offered was fairly encouraging - 3 months of a 'mild' chemo and if no success then they were going to try a more potent course. Everything went completely wrong though after the first dose. After 2 days she was admitted to hospital with a high temperature. What I have been told has happened is that the chemo had reacted with 'gut bacteria' and caused an infection of the bowel. What initially we thought might be a few days in hospital turned into two weeks which included a period of fasting. She was discharged on friday but is now back in hospital with another high temperature. She is weak, confused and seems to have undergone a complete personality change - I suspect there is a urine/bladder infection somewhere in the mix.
Before chemo - despite struggling with digestion and diarreah - she was fit and walking 2 miles a day. Now she is confined to a hospital bed. What on earth has happened? I feel completely helpless and in the dark. I haven't even managed to find out which type of chemo she has been given ..info which i know would be useful to have been able to share. Last wednesday I visited her in hospital and was shocked.. yet the doctors said she was improving and subsequently discharged her two days later.
Has anyone else had experience of this? Is there anything that could give us some hope? I feel if things don't improve we could lose her very soon. I'm now wishing she'd never had the chemo ....but it was never painted to us that this was a last gasp attempt - the doctors were very confident about it as a longer term course... not curing the cancer but at least prolonging life. Now it appears her life will be even shorter than if nothing was done, .
Thanks for reading and in advance for any advice
Richard Adams
