Is My Grandma Going to Die?
My Grandma had a large cancer removed from her ascending colon about a year ago. Several lymph nodes contained cancer also. She had no evidence that it had spread anywhere else – liver , lungs and bones were scanned before the surgery. The oncologist felt that she was too medically fragile to get chemotherapy because she had 2 strokes right after the surgery. Now the cancer has come back in her abdomen. It is in her liver, but also spread all around the abdomen and is producing a lot of fluid. Is there any hope that she can be cured? If not, how long does she have to live? She is 91.
Tagged with: abdomen • ascending colon • bones • cancer • chemotherapy • grandma • liver • lungs • lymph nodes • oncologist • strokes
Filed under: Colon Health Questions
Denisedds (88)
I’m sorry, but she her only chance for cure was when she was first diagnosed at stage 4 she is no longer curable. With treatment the median survival is 2.5 years without treatment and disease this wide spread median survival is 6-9 months.
That’s rough. I’m sorry about that. I wouldn’t get my hopes up if i were you. I hate to say that but she is very old and sounds like shes also very sick. Just be there to support her as much as you can. i wish you both the best, god bless. =)
There isn’t any telling when she is going to pass away, but it seems like she isn’t going to survive that. She is 91, at that age it is SLIM to bounce back.
At this point it’s up to god to decide whether she lives or dies. My own grandma has been hospitalized 4 times in recent months, I pray that they both will have the strength to overcome the struggle.
yeah. get ready!
There is hope… if you believe it.
Michael, this is always the hardest part of my job as an oncologist, telling my patient and their family that the patient is going to die. You seem to be a very intelligent young man. You stated the site of the primary tumor, the fact that there were no detectable distant metastases before surgery, the lymph node involvement with tumor, and the reason why your grandmother was not a candidate for post-op chemotherapy.
Your grandmother had what was apparently Stage IIIB colon cancer which was managed appropriately for her medical condition. Unfortunately, the outlook for those patients who cannot receive post-op chemotherapy with a Stage IIIB tumor is not good. She now has distant metastases in the liver, but what is worse is that she apparently has diffuse spread of the tumor in the peritoneal cavity which is producing a malignant peritoneal effusion. This is considered a terminal event in colon cancer.
There is a possibility that she could receive intra-peritoneal chemotherapy, but even with this treatment the outlook is not good at all. Once a malignant peritoneal effusion has been diagnosed, the median survival in patients with colon cancer is about 2.5 months. That is without treatment. If she is a candidate for intra-peritoneal chemotherapy (only her oncologist can make this decision), the median survival is only a little longer.
In patients with your grandmother’s condition, the focus shifts to making her comfortable and as free of pain as is possible. This is called palliative care. Just a little advice. Spend some time with her now. This is the most important thing you can do for her. Show her that you care for her. Good luck. I wish you the best.
Seeing as how she can’t undergo treatment I would hazard to guess that she will probably pass away sometime with in the next year. Exactly how long it will be is different for everyone. My grandmother (who was able to tolerate chemo) after it came back was on treatment for a year before the chemo stopped working for her. She stopped chemo and went on hospice care in January and she passed away March 6th. I would suggest spending as much time with your grandmother as you can and getting out to do the things she love if/while she can. (We also got video of her telling some stories from her childhood.) Also if you haven’t considered it yet, look into hospice care. If she lives at home with you or one of her children, they provide any and all equipment you need as well as send a nurse to see her a few times a week. ( they also provide cna’s to come in and help with bath’s) They also have social workers and grief counselors to help all of you not just her. They were really great with my grandma, and they are really sensitive and experienced with these situations.