Palliative care

Hi loobyG

My husband has also reached the stage of no further treatment after all tried have failed and he is now palliative only

he takes zomorph twice daily and still has prostap injections along with various other meds

he has recently had radiotherapy for a compression in his spine but only after we got Marie curie doctor involved as he couldn’t take the pain and was being told to take oramorph hourly ! 

We are now practically housebound as he struggles to walk and gets very tired but we still have not been given any idea of how long he might have left 

I am like you and just need to know what happens next

Dear LoobyG & Maggie,

I was really touched to read your posts and feel deeply for you. I wish I had some experience relevant to your own to share but my own treatment has only just begun. Just in case you've never heard of him and in case it may be of some use I thought that I'd mention the names of Chris Woollams and his website Cancer Active. Chris is a biochemist with a profound interest in supporting the body and its immune system. His website is a mine of information, research, and advice.

Very best wishes,

Jonathan x

It must be quite difficult to give an idea of "how long"  everyone is different.  I can only give you the experience with and of my brother-in-law.  From the time he was pretty much house bound he lived 2 years with brilliant care from his Macmillan nurses, his family and colleagues from the fire service where he spent his whole 35 year career.  He spent the last 3 weeks in hospital as it was becoming more difficult to care for him in the house.  His bed was moved down stairs and so on.  We had hoped he could spend his last days at home but his wife was not in good health so it was thought better to move him into hospital.  To keep his spirits up the family were still planning to take him away to attend his grand-daughters graduation but he died 3 months before this happened.  Of course there is no way we can say whether or not we would have been able to take him with us or not, he was also to give his sister away for her 3rd wedding but died just a month before this came about so I carried out that duty in memory of him.  John was relatively young at 68 and had had prostate cancer from the age of 54 along with heart problems.  It was the heart problems which necessitated his retirement from the fire service and not long after that it was found he had prostate cancer.  I think I have mentioned before on this website that this was some time ago and treaments have changed since then as he would now have been offered arbiraterone which his consultant is sure would have given him a little longer and also would probably have been given early chemo which would also probably have given him a different outcome - who can tell?  His family and the fire service continue to work to raise funds for the local hospital and cancer centre and prostate cancer uk. and of course, we are vigilant with the health of his two sons and also my two sons.  I know this is a hard time for  you and wonder if you have a cancer self help group near you such as a Maggies Centre as they will be able to give you all sorts of help.

All the best to you all, and make the most of the time you have, make each day precious.

Des