Pancreatic Cancer - now terminal

Hello Pinky

I am sorry to hear this and it will be particularly difficult for your 15 year old.

Having been in the same situation the two pieces of advice I would give are not to dwell on how long - easy to say, difficult to do - but to try to find one nice thing to do each day. Might just be to look at a photo or admire some flowers. On eating try not to stress too much. This is one of the symptoms and I really stressed about it and with hindsight all it did was make my husband and me even more stressed and miserable. As long as he remains hydrated that's the main thing.

Squeaky

Thank you Squeaky 

I totally understand what you are going through.  My husband never ate for weeks and just drunk Ribena, which actually rotted his teeth.  When we were told he was terminal and weeks to live, i Spent 24/7 with him, sleeping next to his hospital bed in our room, when he felt like talking we reminisced and I told him how much I loved him. We held hands a lot and had lots of cuddles.  He didn’t want to talk about dying so we never discussed it.

It is such a cruel disease.

Sending you a hug

I’m so so sorry, this is such a cruel disease. I don’t have any experience of chemo but my sister really struggled to eat, sometimes she went days without food- this seemed largely due the tummy pain. She lost a lot of weight but when they got her medication right, her appetite seems to have improved. She is on so much medication including fentanyl patches (as she had a reaction to morphine), pregabalin (which is apparently good for nerve pain) and steroids as these are also good for pain apparently. I think these also gave her an appetite.

I’ve heard that she might again go off her food so I’m taking it day by day too. Caring for someone with this illness seems to be responding to changes on a weekly or even daily basis. Sending warm thoughts, this is so tough xxx

God bless you Bmus it’s so hard but I’m thinking of you too going through a very similar nightmare x

Thank you Chelseabluegirl for your virtual hug. I try to do my crying in the shower when no one can see or hear my sobs but it’s getting harder to hold back the tears. I try to be strong for my husband but I feel so helpless when he’s suffering. I just want him to be comfortable and on top of the pain. He has been so positive from the day of diagnosis, all through chemo & unsuccessful surgery & now palliative chemo. So sorry to hear you have lost your hubby to this cruel disease.

Hello Pinky, just read your post.  I was beginning to stress about making my husband eat more but now realise its not doing him or me any good.  I let him lead the way regarding what food and how much he wants.  He does drink a lot so no worries about dehydration.  Its so tough seeing someone you care about going through this.