Question:

Joyce has the peg but she is very weak. According to a cousin, her voice is so soft, she is extremely weak and can hardly walk. Is that something to expect after inserting the peg?

Secondly if the patient is extremely weak what are the chances of having the chemo and radiation treatments?

Thanks

It doesnt sound like this is from the peg. I think she went for so long without proper nutrition that she is probably dehydrated and malnourished. Ive been that way and was hospitalized a few times for this. You feel so bad that you feel like you are dying, at least thats what I thought was happening.

Tell your relatives she must up her intake to help get her out of this. It can become a viscous cycle. The patient feels awful so they dont bother doing feedings. Because they dont do the feeding they end up having malnutrition and dehydration quickly sets in too. This will further complicate their medical issues and make them feel 10X worse than they already do. The only solution to feeling better is pushing to take in 3000 calories every single day and 60 oz of water daily too. Its alot but it must be that high to pull the patient back into adequate intake. After a few days of this she should begin to feel a little better. But at the same time, she has cancer again so that could be making her feel lousy too. Maybe the pain meds dont work or she isnt telling everyone what her pains are. When someone first gets a feeding tube they could be uncomfortable usually only for about 3 days before they begin to feel a little better. There is alot going on and Joyce needs someone to step up and be her full time caregiver, someone to oversee her medications, feedings, water intake, doctor appointments, basically everything. Wish you could be her advocate!

Could be Cachexia or wasting syndrome from the cancer itself, which is mufti factorial and difficult to treat, and increasing nutrients, even by TPN, may not help. There are some ways they may treat this, maybe not. I heard of using fish oil, omega three fatty acids, corticosteroids, and anabolic steroids, and there may be newer therapies to help reverse this process.

Last Night my husband called Joyce and she was so weak. Her voice was so soft and she said that she is unable to stand up on her own. We told her to call her oncologist to find out what is going on. Her feeding tube is working well but no improvement.

She is still hoping to receive treatment but my husband said if you are that weak then they might administer the radiation and chemo. Besides I am not sure if they figured out how to cover the cost of this second batch of treatment.

Hi there... I am wondering to what end she is being treated. An experienced dr. who deals with cancer KNOWS at what point to stop. From what you have described here she is in the advanced end stages of this disease - and likely palliative at this point - this is based solely on what you have described. If they are still hoping for a cure I would ask what they are basing this on. Has it happened before, and how many times? Likely they probably haven't seen someone come back from this point of if they have there haven't been many. If that is the case then I would ask them what they are trying to accomplish. I am wondering if it is financially based, as in - the continue to get paid as long as they treat. I would wonder if the opposite were true, would they have stopped by now.

Not to say that they shouldn't do whatever they can to fight on her behalf, but at some point the writing is on the wall in big bold letters and continuing to offer hope where it is scant is almost cruel. It sounds almost as if they don't really know what to do, and are just trying anything. This is all reactive not proactive. Ideally the PEG should have been put in long before she was too weak to do much of anything. It almost feels like a lot of too little too late.

The peg is great it will help with the malnourishment, and hydration, but it isn't instant. For her the disease has gotten a strong hold on her because of the long term lack of food and proper fluids and it's aggressiveness. This will not be reversed in a week or two weeks time. There should be some improvement, but will it be enough to get her to the point where she can receive more treatment that's another thing entirely.

I hope for her sake and yours it does. I do believe miracles happen, hopefully it happens for her.

hugs.

I doubt they will do treatments also. It's probably the bodies metabolic changes from cancer, not as much as nutrition. I was in a similar situation at stage 4, couldn't even raise my arm, could not stand, walk for over a year, and pulled through, but it took 6 months in a hospital, and nursing home just good enough to go home against medical advice, but no further treatments (rads) until 1.4 years later. Even after several recurrences, MO refused chemo, RO refused some rads too, even as far as last year, and I was 51. I hope for a miracle.

As of today, Joyce had completed 2 sets of radiation. I am not sure what is the state of her health but according to other son she has completed 2 this week. The chemo due to the high cost is up in the air.

Can a person just have radiation without chemo?

Yes, I had had radiation alone with curative intent, 70Gy to promary, 62Gy to cervical neck, had a clear scan in five months, but returned in the lymphs and at 7 months, then had a RND, 7 months later. Depends on tumor size, treatment goals. Sometimes it's palliative, to reduce Tumor size, and pain, heal wounds, prior to surgery, co-morbities, and as neoadjunct treatment. its 's one step in the right direction,

Good luck.

Chemo helps the radiation work better. Its ok to just have rads without chemo. By itself chemo is normally used for palliative care as it is not curative alone.

Best wishes to Joyce with her treatments.

If they are doing 35 rads my guess (and I am NOT a medical person) it that they think there is at least a chance of cure or longer term remission. Best wishes.
Maria