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Life-limiting illness

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notapizzaeater · 15/09/2026 17:33

my DH was on the morphine, fentanyl patches, parcetomal etc but ironically what actually worked best was caspican cream - we had to put gloves on to rub it in but he swore by it. I know when they suggested it to him he laughed …..

Hisredipad · 15/09/2026 18:24

notapizzaeater · 15/09/2026 17:33

my DH was on the morphine, fentanyl patches, parcetomal etc but ironically what actually worked best was caspican cream - we had to put gloves on to rub it in but he swore by it. I know when they suggested it to him he laughed …..

Be very very careful. I got that cream for me and failed to use gloves. Ouch ouch

notapizzaeater · 15/09/2026 23:30

Hisredipad · 15/09/2026 18:24

Be very very careful. I got that cream for me and failed to use gloves. Ouch ouch

Haha ! What did you touch 🤣🤣🤣 ?

shiningstar2 · 17/09/2026 09:26

There was the first team meeting about DH's cancer yesterday and we have an appointment today to hear the exact type of pluera cancer he has and what can be done for him. We already know it's inoperable so hoping they have some kind of plan to push it back.

He has an awful night.lsst night with pain and even, in desperation, taking meds in the night which took him over his 3 times a day prescription didn't help. This cancer hides itself in it's early stages and is really fast moving in its later stages. It seems to have moved on again even in the last few days.
Feel like I'm hoping for the BG EST and desperately pushing preparing for the worst away from my mind.
Awful seeing him like this. Hope today they up the pain meds.

BIossomtoes · 17/09/2026 11:31

Let us know how it goes @shiningstar2. I’m thinking of you.

thornbury · 17/09/2026 13:09

@shiningstar2 that sounds tough, but as you say better to know what you are dealing with, even if that in itself turns out to be particularly nasty.

When I got to ICU yesterday, there were doctors lingering near DH's room and they pulled me into a meeting room and we finally had the conversation I felt was much overdue. They said that he is not responding to treatment and his lungs are very badly damaged. They want to ask him about his intubation preferences while he still has the capacity to answer them - he has told me and his oncologist that he doesn't want to be intubated, but they need to be absolutely sure. He's very definitely on end of life care now, and I asked them if they thought it would be days, weeks or months, but qualified it with I know you can't be sure; the oncologist said probably a few weeks. He will, at some point, most likely go into respiratory arrest. The team were so kind and comforting, and very conscious of our expat status (vast majority of patients here are local) and thus the lack of visible support for me, compared to the locals who have the whole family rock up, complete with food and drinks!

DH doesn't know that his time is close, and when I heard him on the phone to a colleague later, he said 'I might still turn a corner'. 9 days in ICU and only yesterday did he finally put his out of office on, FFS. I don't think he wants to face the reality, and I agreed with his oncologist that we won't take away his hope. Even today he's asked me if he can go home if they're not actively treating him now, and I of course had to say no as he's on pumped oxygen and there is no way it is possible to have the care he needs anywhere but here - they won't even move him a few doors down the corridor to HDU.

I'm now on indefinite paid leave from work and they are being so supportive and kind. It's three weeks until half term and my daughter is coming out then; I don't know that DH will still be with us, but I will certainly appreciate having her around.

shiningstar2 · 17/09/2026 13:50

I am so sorry @thornbury that you and your husband are going through this. It must be even harder to be ex-pats so it's good that the medical teams are so supportive.i am in the waiting area while DH is fitted with a device to drain his lung again. This will need drained by a nurse every few days so we have well and truly been thrust into the awful world of cancer land.

Thinking of you and your DH and hoping he is kept as comfortable as possible and you are as 'ok' as it's possible to be in these circumstances ♥️

lastdaysofaugust · 17/09/2026 17:43

@thornbury I am so sorry. I’ve had very similar with DH, he just won’t stop working even though his work have said if he sends one email a week they’ll count it as full time!

Work is a massive worry for me and I know I’ll have to go off at some point but I don’t know exactly when to gauge it, it’s so hard when it’s all so uncertain.

Flowers May he be as comfortable as possible.

shiningstar2 · 18/09/2026 17:52

How has today gone for you @thornbury? It is such a stressful time for you and your loved one. I hope that the doctors are keeping him as comfortable as possible and that you have some support around you. ♥️
Yesterday was a day like no other for us. It began with an appointment where we were told that DH definitely had Metholioma cancer. There are two types of this in the lung and it turns out that DH has the fastest, most aggressive kind.
They say he has 'less than a year' to live without treatment and 'possibly more than a year' with.
After we had tried to take this in they told us that the lung they'd drained about a week ago was now full of fluid again. They offered to drain it again there and then which he accepted. Unfortunately the procedure hit something unexpected, there was blood everywhere and DH said the pain was excruciating.
Left in a wheelchair for hours while the drain worked. Then sent down to X-ray dept for a scan and an X-ray. No porters available for an hour By this time 5.30 in the afternoon and the ward was ringing down to exray asking where he was as the doctor wanted to see him, check the scans and see if he was fit to go home.
By the time this was done and they kept him for an hour's observation we got home 8.30 that night with the added knowledge that we'll now have a district nurse coming around every few days to drain the lung.

We thought we were only going to be there an hour. Had to ring DD to come to ours after work to feed/walk our dog.
When we got home we had to tell DD about the prognosis. Tears all round them a sleepless night.
Just to confirm what we were hardly able to take in yesterday We've had a call today from the Methsolioma help we were referred to letting us know that we can definitely have Attendance Allowance and a Blue Badge because DH has 'less than a year to live'
Just over a month ago our GP was telling us DH's pain was 'probably a broken rib'
So a lot to take in today.
So grateful for this site. Hope others are having the best day possible ♥️

thornbury · 18/09/2026 18:34

@shiningstar2 that's horrific, I am so sorry. Poor DH and poor you and DD 😢 Strangely enough, although my DH has Cancer of Unknown Primary, the genetic testing came back with 'most consistent with mesothelioma'. We are all wondering now, including his oncologist, if although it seemed unlikely at time we got the report, there was maybe something in it after all, since he is dying from a lung condition associated with the metastatic cancer in his body, despite the fact that it's not in his lungs but in his bones and lymphatic system. They proposed that it was a rare subtype that begins in the testis. Who wants a rare type of a rare cancer?! For CUP, the median survival is 4-15 months, so like you we knew from the outset how aggressive it would be. It's 6 months next Thursday since his diagnosis, and I don't know if he will still be with us then.

Today was really hard. At one point I was sitting rubbing his back and silently weeping. He has been having more frequent hypoxic incidents and of course he gets panicky and agitated. He is constantly coughing up and spitting up blood-tinged fluid. He finds it really uncomfortable to lay down as it restricts his breathing and exacerbates his back pain, so he is usually sitting on the side of the bed (it has an air mattress so even that's a challenge) with the head end raised, clinging on to the handle there, hunched forward with his chin on his chest, panting and moaning. He is 62 and when I see him like that I would believe you if you told me he was a man in his 90s.

The Dr from pain management came twice today and she has put him on a sedative which supports him to continue to breathe independently, unlike high doses of morphine. It supposedly helps a person to become less agitated about being short of breath and is often used when taking someone off a ventilator. I really hope it works, as he was on the border between restless and agitated when I left today and I still wouldn't consider him to be comfortable in either mind or body.

Another horrendous decision to make is a financial one. We have always been totally committed to joint finances. When he dies, any bank account in this country in his name, including joint, will be frozen. The notification goes immediately through government channels because of the ID card system we have where we live. I have had to open an account in my name, which we agreed I would do, and at some point I have to move pretty much all of our money from the joint account into my new one, especially as I have to pay a year's rent upfront next month. As soon as I do that, it's an acknowledgement that he is never coming home and it signals to him that I am preparing for his death. So, I am putting off doing it but I cannot risk leaving it too late. What an awful position to be in. He hardly looks at his phone these last few days and he gave me the PIN for it, so I might do it with his phone to hand and delete the notification straight away. I don't even want to be thinking like this.

notapizzaeater · 18/09/2026 21:13

It’s awful thinking about the practicalities ‘after’ but it can make life so much easier. My DH wouldn’t talk about it as he wasn’t going to die and in the last few weeks was regularly confused and changed passwords on things ‘to be helpful’. My DH employers where fantastic (as where mine tbh) he was very senior and everyone else picked up the slack and he just logged on as and when he could to deal with stuff. And when he died they immediately issued a payment for 2 years of holiday pay that he hadn’t been able to use which was priceless whilst I was waiting for stuff to come through.

don’t forget in all of this you need to take care of you. If anyone is West Yorkshire, I’m can come and hold your hand.

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