I need some information about bile duct cancer

[Romann]

Has anyone experienced this? My DM has it and I would like to understand how it's likely to evolve. It's not treatable surgically She will have chemo to lessen the effects, but I understand the prognosis is not good

I live very far away (like 30 hours by plane far) and would like to plan my travel. Very grateful for any advice or information.

Have a look on the Macmillan website if you haven't already. It's usually very informative.

Sorry to hear your news

Belatedly Annie thanks for your reply. It's all still a bit unclear to me, but at least DM is feeling OK at the moment.

Cholangiocarcinoma. DF had this.

He was going to have surgery (liver resection) but they found he had spots on his peritoneum and abandoned surgery. He also had quite profound immune problems (unrelated) which probably did not help, and picked up a nasty antibiotic resistant bug in hospital.

He was given the option of chemo but chose not to have it. I can understand this and it was probably the best choice for him.

I had never heard of it before this.

Thanks lillie it's apparently very rare outside Asia.

DF was a hale a hearty Shropshire farmer! His DW died of pancreatic cancer a few months later, which was a strange coincidence. They were both teetotal too.

DF lived 7 mths after his diagnosis (when he had jaundice), but I don't know what the prognosis would have been if he had not had all the nasty infections. We learned, through this difficult time, that you just have to enjoy people whilst they are there. We tried to see them as much as we could, but it never seemed enough.

Does your DM have Skype or facetime? Is it worth setting her up with it? It makes little and often contact easier.

yes Lillie we do Skype and FaceTime, and of course much more often now than a couple of months ago. It's interesting that they were teetotal - I wondered whether alcohol had anything to do with it. Not that DM is a heavy drinker, but she does like a glass of wine, and that's about the only possible risk factor that applies to her (apart from being over 60).

DM's diagnosis was also because of jaundice. She will have chemo, but it's apparently expected to reduce symptoms and not to extend life. I have trips planned in August and October. Problem is that it's always such a long trip, very expensive and so exhausting. Plus the DCs hate it when I'm away. If things are still looking OK then we'll go at Christmas. I'm not sure what to do about that if she's very ill. Maybe we go anyway and just work it out. I feel like I'm overthinking it but then for Christmas we would need to buy the tickets now.

Of course you're not over thinking it - it must be awful being so far away .
Impossible to know what to do ...see how things are in October ? Could you extend your stay if necessary ?

Good luck .

Your plans sound reasonable to me.

There is always too much you want to do when a relative is terminally ill, and too much that could have been done in retrospect. Too much to feel guilty about.

You can only do what you can do, and make the best of it.