brain mets, any advice on what to expect?

[lessthanBeau]

my dB suddenly became bedridden last week, his speech has been affected, he's not confused but his words are jumbled, we are managing to communicate in a fashion. doc came and thinks brain Mets, not a surprise as his lung cancer has gone everywhere else too. he's so frustrated, he wants to get out of bed and sit in the conservatory, his bed is directly next to the doors that go in there so he can see everything out there anyway. he's so frail but still eating and drinking, we know he hasn't got long and he has his end of life care in place we just don't want him suffering for weeks and weeks like this , we don't know what to expect with the brain Mets, will he still know us? he's still fighting every step of the way.

My dad had brain mets from liver cancer, he fought until the last few weeks of his life then he became more confused about people he didn't see regular just forgetting names places we had been. He did become very frustrated and got quite angry at points. He was having fits from the brain mets and these increased in the every last weeks just before he died, then one evening had a massive fit and died a few days later he just never woke from the last fit so it was a peaceful death as he was unaware. He was very strong willed so we got a wheelchair from Red Cross so we could take him outside and make him comfortable and just enjoyed the time we had left.

It does sound like brain metastases are a possibility but it is important that he has his bloods checked to exclude other causes of his deterioration.

Has he been started on steroids? They can help with symptoms by reducing swelling within the brain.

Radiotherapy is sometimes given to patients with brain metastases, but to be honest the treatment isn't that beneficial in those who are weak beforehand and can sometimes make them feel worse.

Sorry to hear you are going through this.

he managed to sit in his chair yesterday, he's on strong steroids, he won't go to hospital for treatments and the doc agrees he's too far gone to be messed about with, so we're keeping him comfortable as best we can. I just think if we know what symptoms could happen we can be prepared for it, and it will lessen the shock a little bit.
everything that could go wrong with this cancer has,so we don't expect he'll have an easy end either, even his oncologist said he has been extremely unlucky.

I suspect he will gradually become more tired and spend more time in bed sleeping. He may become more confused though not necessarily so.

Look after yourself