Liver Cancer End Stage

[mary852]

My mother has been diagnosed with liver cancer from hepatitis C.  Hospice has come in and she is now sleeping a lot and a cathereter put in.  Her appetite has detirioated and her urine is still normal color.  She is not jaundice as of yet but does slur her words occasionally and gets confused.  How long do I have?  I know there is no real answer but are we talking months, weeks or days?

[Londres70]

Can you all get homehealthcare to come in and give you and your father a hand?  This situation could go on.  

[mary852]

thank you for answering. the prognosis is she is not going to get better.  The hospice nurse has been great but not ready to guess when the end is near.  she is losing weight fairly rapidly but her appetite is still low. she takes morphine a couple of times a day (liquid) but she is saying it is because of her hip.  In addition to the cancer she needs a hip replacement she is bone on bone so can't walk and of course cannot have that done.  she is getting weaker by the week now and barely can stand so she either lays on the couch or sits up (she doesn't want to be in the hospital bed we provided).  her mind is sharper than a tack which makes it touch.  i still don't see any jaundice and just wants her comfortable.  I am assuming we are probably talking weeks but really just wanted an idea since my 85 year old dad is the caregiver and i am the only child.  it has been pretty touch on him.

[Londres70]

What was the physician's prognosis?  What did he/she say?  The hospice nurse should be explaining exactly what is happening with your mother.  As a nurse I have actually seen people die after an entire month of not eating or drinking, so it is not necessary true someone will die immediately after he/she stops eating and drinking.  Timelines are "guesses" in this cases.  I would be notifying other family members about her condition and getting all her affairs in order.  

Main thing:  keep her confortable and be there for her.  

[Tinabudde]

That's really hard to say, once people stop eating or drinking it's usually about a week.  I'm so sorry you're going through this.  They are probably giving her pain medications which make her sleep which is good because sleep takes her away from the pain and the medication might be making her slur her words too and also confused.  I would talk to the doctor, but usually when hospice is called in for cancer cases it's usually a month or less.