Hello everybody,
I lost my elderly mother to oseophagus cancer in March. She had been given the all clear only early last year. She seemed to be returning to her previous weight, health, and activity levels by the summer. We were concerned that the hospital said she didn't need any scans 'unless the symptoms came back'. In September she went to a local pharmacy for a Covid booster, 7 days after her flu jab. The pharmacy wrongly gave her another flu jab. She then had her Covid booster the same day. Very soon after that, she developed a throaty voice and started losing her appetite again. She was admitted to hospital on Boxing Day for shingles, and a month later they finally did a scan and saw that not only had the cancer come back, it had spread to her liver and was thus terminal at her age.
I'm finding things very difficult. I want to make a complaint about the pharmacy that gave my mum the flub jab instead of a covid booster. Does anyone have any experience with this. Is it possible that it caused the cancer to return?
Hi Harmony Row
I am sorry to read this, it must be extremely difficult for you to have lost your elderly mother to OC after she had been given the all clear last year. OC is a type of cancer that is often difficult to detect, it is viscous and unforgiving and once it starts to spread it seems to continue though the system.
My husband became very ill over a course of a few weeks in April 2020, by the beginning of May he was finding it hard to swallow and in some terrible pain, by the time he was diagnosed his OC had, like your Mum's already spread to his liver, but also to his lungs, as well as the lymph nodes. Shingles is a particularly viscous illness also, which would have made Mum feel extremely run down, and as OC is a fast mover, its return could have been at any point from when she returned to hospital, but I imagine Mum's blood results would have set off alarm bells had there been anything suspected when she first went into hospital..... these are only my thoughts, but based on all of that, I like some others here, do not feel that the flu jab would have added to Mum's condition.
It is so difficult coming to terms with the loss of a parent, and I do hope you have support around you at this time.
Lowe'
Hi Binge
I am so sorry to read about your Dad, this must be difficult for all of you. I really can't answer your question on time, simply because there are so many determining factors and I also am not a doctor.
All I can say is when I was told my Husband was very ill and that he needed to go an (basically) put his house in order, I thought we were looking at weeks, that was two years ago.. There is no knowing, but in many ways what it taught me was to focus on the now, live what life there is in this moment, say anything and everything you want to say and make memories..
I know that this may not be something you can do with Dad in his current condition, but even when he is sleeping you can talk to him, and hold on to hope that he is recovering. I don't know how old your dad is, or if there is any other circumstances in his medical history, but I do wish him well and I send you strength for the coming days
Lowe'
