Hello there. At the end of January my elderly mum moved in with us as she wasn't coping alone. Her obvious issues were dementia and also 3 toes were gangrenous. During an Angioplasty to try and improve the blood flow to her toes it was picked up that she also has pseudomyxoma peritonei.
Due to mums age and poor general health the decision was made at an MDT meeting that any surgery was not appropriate. She has come home with a palliative care plan in place and a prognosis of less than 3 months. We were told that her cancer was the most acute condition she had.
My question is that if the hospital had not picked this cancer up by accident, I would not suspect a thing. Apart from a slightly swollen tummy, she doesn't seem to have any pain. Having said that, she is on morphine for the foot pain which may be masking potential cancer pain. I haven't been given any clue as to what to watch for symptom wise. The dementia can make mum unreliable in communicating pain. Has anyone else any experience of this?
Hi and welcome to the online community
I'm very sorry to read that while looking at one health problem that your mum had it was discovered that she had cancer. That must have been a tremendous shock for you both.
I don't have any experience with palliative care or the signs to watch out for to know if your mum is in pain so I hope you don't mind me suggesting that you also join the supporting someone with incurable cancer group where you can discuss your worries as well as practical issues around palliative care. If this is something that you'd like to do then clicking on the link I've created will take you straight there.
It would be great if you could pop something about your mum's diagnosis in your profile as it really helps others when answering or looking for someone with a similar diagnosis. It also means that you don't have to keep repeating yourself. To do this click on your username and then select 'Profile'. You can amend it at any time and if you're not sure what to write you can take a look at mine by clicking on my username.
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"Never regret a day in your life, good days give you happiness, bad days give you experience"
