best supportive care ?

[user1473494811]

does anyone out there know what 'best supportive care 'is. mother is 84 with bowel cancer on top of copd . and other age related problems. Consultant thinks too weak for treatment and has sent a letter to doctor proposing best supportive care. saw social worker today and she has never heard of it. have been told mother has months maybe but that was a month ago.

[CoconuttyOil]

Sorry to hear of your mum's diagnosis.

Best supportive care means that your mum will receive treatment to relieve her symptoms. This will include pain relief, anti-sickness, anything to treat diarrhoea and or constipation, etc. Sometimes patients may also be offered radiotherapy if the doctors think this will help control particular symptoms.

The aim of best supportive care is to maintain or improve your mum's quality of life. Who is leading her care now? Her GP or has she got regular input from a local Macmillan or hospice nurse?

[user1473494811]

Have had a phone call from GP who says that we need to sit and have a chat with mum about what she wants to happen near the end. The consultant and macmillan nurse both say that there is a chance that the tumour can rupture causing a severe bleed but GP says this will not happen and she may not even have symptoms from the tumour.
However the general consensus is that she may only have months. I suppose at 84 this is not unexpected. Thank you for replying x

[CoconuttyOil]

It sounds like she has all of the right people involved in her care, so that's good. There is lots of helpful advice on the Macmillan website for understanding what happens in the latter stages of cancer. And importantly you and any other carers will also need support. Don't be afraid to ask for all that is available x