anita4

Well right now, she has a meal supplement shake about 1 every 2 days. She already has difficulty breathing as she is a heavy smoker. After she has a smoke, the strangest wheezing will come out. No energy to cough even like she used to. Her right side has become more swollen, leg etc... Her ascites is tremendous. She is taking 2 x 15 mg. morphine time realeased tabs a day and 2 breakthrough pain at 5 mg. This is all up to the staffs discretion, as she doesn't peep about the pain, you can just see her discomfort (remember she is a psych pt. denies she even is sick). When she is awake she is soooo restless. Despite the pain she is up and down every 3 mins. She prefers to sit on a hard chair. She doesn't sleep at night, from the night shift interpretation is that she is "afraid" to sleep. I am so petrified that she will just drop dead while she is walking. In anyones experience with this type of cancer, do they die in their sleep or is there a huge crises, then they die? Or are they bedridden before they die?

Thanks for your response. How long can they carry on like this? How do you know when the end is near? Could she be up and down one day and passed the next? Or will she be bedridden first? She is a psych patient and doesn't understand that she should just stay put. She is like a bulldozer. She goes to Bingo every night still. The other night she fell on the way home, so weak. Has maybe one meal supplement shake a day at the most. We can't keep her in the house, unless we tie her up!! Which of course we can't.

Hi all, any advice or input would be appreciated. I work in a Psychiatric Facility with 6 clients. One Lady has stomache ca, she is failing by the hour. Until 2.5 weeks ago she weighed 172 pds, now she is 186 pds, all fluid build up from acites. She is impossible, she won't sit still all she wants is to smoke. I find this whole thing very draining, I can't sleep at night knowing I have to work tomorrow, I feel so sorry for her. This is my first experience with palliative care and any ideas on coping would be helpful. Its so stressful, trying to connect with her dr. who has to contact the pharmacy, who has to order meds, then be delivered. We needed a PRN breakthrough pain Morphine last Monday, and we didn't get it until tonight, just watching her suffer is awful