Has my mum got cancer?

[Hardtoknowwhat]

I've been a long time lurker on MN for years and seen some excellent advice in that time. I've joined today to ask for advice/support on the following:

My DM is 70 years old and started feeling unwell around Christmas with stomach pains and feeling bloated. GP diagnosed IBS and things seemed to settle a little. In the months since then she has undergone some stress due to my father having a car accident and she is naturally one of life's worriers anyway.

She is diabetic (not insulin dependent) and routine blood test early May highlighted that there may be something wrong with her liver. GP did not seem overly concerned and advised to retest in a month. Again, results showed potential issue with liver (apologies, entirely sure what was raised) but again sent away and had more bloods were taken Wednesday last week which were supposedly to check for inflammation of the liver amongst other things.

GP phoned DM on Friday afternoon and has referred her urgently for an ultrasound within the usual 2 week timeframe due to the results of the most recent bloods having increased dramatically since the last tests 4 weeks ago. Over the last week she is showing signs of jaundice in the whites of her eyes and has lost a significant amount of weight over the last months. She currently cannot face food and feels constantly nauseous. Until the jaundice, we (dh, db, and sis in law) had put the loss of appetite down to stress as she is a natural worrier as I've already mentioned.

I have, of course, consulted Dr Google and everything points to pancreatic/liver cancer with the ineviatable, unfortunate, outcome.

I'd just aappore appreciate any words of advice from anyone that has been in a similar situation. In my mind, I am thinking the worst and praying to be proved wrong.

Thanks in advance.

I’m really sorry to hear your mum isn’t well, and I do hope you are proved wrong with thinking it could be cancer.

I don’t have any direct experience I’m afraid, but I was surprised by a poster I once saw how prevalent various liver diseases are, so it’s possible that it’s some other problem. A blocked bile duct could be one of the more simple explanations, but I am not medically trained.

The good thing about the liver is that you can have a huge proportion removed and it is uniquely the only organ that effectively regenerates itself. So if there is a growth (cancerous or not) then an operation/procedure may be possible to remove it or tackle it.

Obviously only you DMs medical team will be able tell you for sure what’s going on, and if it is cancer then there a lots of effective treatments out there. Although it’s anecdotal, I know someone who survived pancreatic cancer and another person who has been living with it for over 18months.

Best wishes

Thanks for your response @Hardtoknowwhat. It's just a waiting game now until she receives an appointment with the consultant/ultrasound the GP has requested. She's convinced it's cancer but I don't think she's fully prepared for the full implications if it is..

Apologies, thanks for your response @1234hello

Waiting is hard so I hope you all have some coping strategies and possibly distractions for the next few weeks.

I'm sorry your family is experiencing this. I hope her appointment is soon.

My dm finally visited the gp last week over feeling vaguely unwell, weight loss and lack of appetite. He has fast tracked her so she presumes she has cancer. She and my dad have gone into anxiety meltdown. Not good for octagenarians, especially when one has heart failure.

Waiting is awful

Mum was admitted to hospital via A&E last Thursday. We still are not aware what has caused the liver issues; since being admitted it has become apparent her kidneys are not functioning properly either. She has had an ultrasound and CT scan without contrast thus far and both have not been clear enough to make a diagnosis apparently. I'm ever so worried and have been spending every day with her.

Hope your mum gets good news at her appointment, poppy.

Sorry to hear this, Hardtoknowwhat- but glad that she’s in the right place to get some answers. You must be beside yourself with worry; I have no advice other than to remember to take care of yourself too. Offering a hand to hold

Such a worry for you all. I hope they find out what's going on soon so they can help her

I am so sorry that you are going through this

My mum was admitted to hospital through a&e recently, she had no appetite, wasn't drinking enough liquid, hardly getting out of bed, hadn't been for a wee in a few days. Her kidneys both packed in. She was in intensive care for 2.5 weeks and ended up having dialysis and a nephrostomy (a tube directly into her kidneys to drain the fluid instead of it passing through her bladder).

When she had the scans, they found a mass at the top of her cervix and they took a sample and sent it off. She has been diagnosed with stage 4a cervical cancer.

She has started chemo, and still has the nephrostomy on - they said that her kidneys weren't working because the mass was pushing against her bladder, causing the fluid to go back up into her kidneys and was being released into her bloodstream which wasn't good.

She's doing really well on the chemo so far (1 cycle out of 3 completed) and although it's not "curable" it's manageable with the chemo being used to shrink the mass (tumour, about 8 cm).

My DM is 50 y/o and hasn't ever been really poorly (apart from the odd cold).

I know it's not really what you want to hear (read) but we were prepped with worst case scenario when they discovered the mass and I went through 2-3 weeks of constant worry and upset and what ifs.

There is always a chance that it could be cancer, but then there is always a chance that it isn't.

Thinking of you and DM and the only advice that I can really offer is to be positive, stay strong, and whatever the outcome is there is always a world of support for you xx

Hi,
Is there any update on how your mum is doing?
I hope all is well.

Apologies for not updating sooner. We have had a bit of a roller-coaster over the last months. DM was transferred to renal ward in different hospital as her kidney function declined further. She was treated for that primarily and when her kidneys began to show improvement, was then seen by gastro team in same hospital.

DM was discharged from hospital Monday 13th August following ERCP procedure the previous week where a stent was inserted in her bile duct to relieve jaundice and "biopsies" taken from the stricture they had identified there. She received a telephone call 2 weeks later from renal doctor advising results had come back benign and a follow up appointment was made as an outpatient at another (3rd) hospital for the weeks time.

Follow up appointment was mid September. Consultant advised that biopsies taken were actually brushings and have a high false negative rate. Essentially they didn't believe results were benign and would have to do the procedure again and take actual biopsies this time. I did ask why that wasn't five in the first place but was basically fobbed off with "initial procedure would always be least invasive option first" Again, more waiting.

DM had second ERCP last Monday and received a telephone call around 5pm yesterday confirming that biopsies from bile duct are malignant.

In all honesty, I was somewhat prepared for this thanks to Doctor Google but have woken from a fitful sleep this morning absolutely furious how long it has taken us to get here. We now have to wait upto two weeks for another CT scan to "see if it's spread". 3 months after first being admitted with symptoms.

I'm just so very sad. I'm incredibly close to DM and she's a "young" 70 iyswim. Although this has aged her, she's lost a tremendous amount of weight and still has limited appetite. I can't face the prospect of losing her yet or the terrible, inevitable months ahead whether treatment is possible or not.

Apologies for the essay and any miracle bile duct cancer survive stories much appreciated

for you and your DM. It's especially hard to take this kind of diagnosis when you has been waving a flag at it for 3 months. I understand your anger. Brace yourself for the rigours of treatment.

Perhaps you would like to speak with PALS to get a more formal response as to why it has taken this long. They were very useful when I contacted them about treatment and discharge of my DF. By the time I got a response, he had passed away, which was also acknowledged. Mistakes had been made and they owned up to it and disciplined 2 nurses. I didn't want anyone else to have the discharge experience my DF had. Best of luck and be strong. x

After many more appointments and scans, my mum was told she was eligible for whipple surgery; a really big operation but her best chance of survival.
She went in to hospital (a none local specialist hospital) as a day case last Tuesday for a laparoscopic investigation as her surgeon wanted to check there were no visible signs that the cancer had spread. She was kept overnight due to the timing of the procedure and the following day the surgeon showed her photographs he had taken that indicated the cancer had spread from the bile duct/pancreas to her liver. He said he was 99% sure the was metastasis but would not be able to confirm until tissue samples from the biopsy he had taken came back. If his theory proved correct, only palliative treatment would then be offered.
Mum came home on Wednesday and developed terrible pain. We called the ward who said it was likely "gasses" following the procedure. She was no better on Thursday and in excruciating pain. I arranged a home visit from the GP who dismissed that there could be any infection, did not examine her, and prescribed oral morphine. The same GP visited mum again on Friday morning as she was barely communicating with us by this stage. He listened to her chest, observed that her pulse was "a little fast" and then prescribed more pain killers reassuring us this was nothing to be concerned about. We came an out of hours GP at around 8.30pm. He checked immediately flagged sepsis and we were blue lighted to hospital. It transpired the liver biopsy had leaked bile into her abdomen and caused peritonitis and septic shock. She underwent emergency surgery and was then in intestive care on a ventilator.
After a day, mum's breathing tubes were removed but she only regained semi consciousness.
On Tuesday morning, the sister looking after her told me that she was not improving as they would expect following the emergency surgery and suggested end of life care as the cancer had expedited.
She passed away at 2am Wednesday morning with all of her closest family by her side. I am beyond devasted.
I spoke to her cancer nurse yesterday who advised that the biposy from the liver did not show any malignant cells.
I feel so let down by everyone and don't know how I'm going to cope without my wonderful mum and best friend

I am so sorry for your loss xxx

Pancreatic cancer survival rates haven’t improved from the 1970s. It’s one of the ones that doesn’t have a great outcome I lost my mum to it as well and it just sucks.

Sorry again. Xxxx

So,sorry for your loss

Oh, HardToKnow, how shocking and distressing. I am so sorry.

It seems very shocking that the test to find that no malignant cells was what led to such a shocking result.

So sorry for the loss of your Mum.