I am new to this sort of thing (forums, blogs etc) but feeling like I need it. My mother-in-law, who I love dearly, has metastic breast cancer in her liver. I think she is really very ill atm but I can't seem to get any straight information from medical people so I thought I'd put my questions "out there" in cyberspace. Can't hurt!
Mum was diagnosed in Feb/March and started on Femara as she didn't want any chemo after previous experiences and surgery was not an option due to the number of tumours present. In late April she had a very sudden turn for the worse with increased pain, jaundice, fluid retention etc. Her oncologist recommended "gentle" chemo to make her "feel better". Well she had one dose only then developed neutropenia, a severely ulcerated mouth, then cellulitis in both legs, then a blood clot in one leg. She is currently in hospital treating the last two conditions and has understandably decided that she will not be having any more chemo.
Mum lives alone about 15 mins from us and is not coping very well to be honest. She is often very confused. I am not sure if its the pain killers or the disease progressing or just not being able to eat last week when her mouth was so bad. She didn't even realise anything was wrong with her legs the day she was admitted to hospital - a friend dropped in and alerted us.
I don't know what to expect in terms of how things will now go and I need to plan how we will care for her (I also have two kids, aged 4 and 6) I have no idea how long she is likely to have left. We have an appointment with the Palliative Care team on Tuesday so I hope that will help.
My husband and I want to care for her and keep her home as long as possible which is her wish. We are blessed with a wonderful support network through our church - but I really need to know what to expect.
