I'm so glad you started this thread OP and I hope it's OK to jump in.
My best friend has been fighting a Grade 4 brain tumour and has just been given 6-8 weeks to live, chemo has been stopped. She's 35.
She is in hospice at the moment and hating it, keeps saying she wants to go home. She is fading fast and is now bed bound, DNR signed, lost all feeling in right side and losing her speech.
I'm told the care plan is for her to have around the clock nursing care at home with a hospital bed (which she really didn't want but has had to reluctantly accept)
A few questions please
1 - Is that usual for the care plan at home? She's saying she's coming out tomorrow (been in a week) but we're all so worried she won't be as safe and will seizure/fall again.
2 - Did you ever see patients who just completely refused to face up to their prognosis, even right to the end? I highly doubt she has longer than 3 weeks, the decline is so sudden, but she is still talking about 'being positive' and 'fighting it' so I just nod along but I want to scream. No funeral plans made etc. Has always been very very in denial, even now. Is that common?
3 - If you have experience of tumour deaths, can you tell me generally how they play out? One doctor said she would like just fall asleep and not wake up, another said its likely to be a stroke or 'catastrophic seizure' 😞
I'm sorry to jump in. I feel like we're all just waiting for a train to hit us.
Thank you.