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Mom diagnosed with Lung Cancer. Need advice on helping her to eat
Lung Cancer | Last Active: Jul 27, 2020 | Replies (74)Comment receiving replies
@kj9- Welcome to Mayo Connect. My heart goes out to you. I also took care of my mom when she had Parkinson's and it was very difficult to make her eat too. I watched her pretty much diminish before my eyes. It's very difficult to care for a parent and she is very lucky to have 2 daughters to help take care of her. My youngest sister helped me immensely. Being the eldest I was my mom's main caretaker. It's important that you and your sister set up a system of who will be the main caretaker, make legal decisions if necessary, and speak to her doctor. It already sounds as if that is you.
As of October this year, I will be a 23-year survivor of lung cancer with 2 different types of lung cancer. I am presently at stage 4. I am not having any treatments right now. My son was very worried as you are. He lived across the country and found it very difficult to help me. I gave him the job of keeping everyone up to date on my journey by email.
When I had cancer I pretty much lost control of my whole being - everything centered around cancer and I had to rely on others for options and treatments - people who I had never known before were going to slice into me, remove an organ or part of one, drip chemicals into my veins, and hope to give me some time. I was 51 at the time. Just a pup. It was the scariest time in my life and I lost 5 lbs in a blink worrying about everything. I chewed valium on the way to every test, scan, and doctor's appointment. I was on the breaking point with each new step I had to take prior to my surgery. I'm wondering if your mom just came to a point when she couldn't take anymore then what she was dealing with and then along came another problem, her heart!
When I was in Chemo I lost my appetite too. The chemo that I was given really upset my stomach. No one in the world could get me to eat. But the idea that it was my choice was very important for the reasons that @artscaping gave you.
I'm wondering if the chemo can be making her ill. I'm also wondering why your mom was so upset about taking additional medication for a problem that is easily corrected with medication. Has she always been wary of taking medicine?
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Hello @merpreb, thank you for your note and sharing your story, I appreciate it very much. My mother has always been wary of taking medications, so her reaction was not surprising. She also later confessed that she had seen friends who were on Blood thinners bleed alot from a small scrap and that scared her more. she is taking an oral medication and no one has said whether or not taht affects your appetite but if it does, it's recent because it hadn't bothered her to this extent before.
I appreciate hearing from everyone, but it sounds like you all are saying that the loss of appetite cannot be reversed? Am I understanding correctly? I know mom is not ready to give up yet...she wants to eat yet, we can't seem to get past the 1000 calories a day mark.
so the not eating more of a conscious choice? I"m just trying to understand and Im scared and worried and I don't know what to do
I'm the oldest daughter and my sister gets scared and panics rather than looking at the situation as, how do address this and what can we do. so many times, I need to be the 'stronger' one and not show the emotion otherwise, my sister falls apart!
Has anyone taken or know of someone who has taken an appetite enhancer? the one that was prescribed is megase (Im not sure I'm spelling it correctly)
thank you all again for your thoughts and feedback. I really appreciate it and it helps me. I hope you will all keep the advice and information coming! a big heartfelt thank you.