Hai doctor, im in real trouble as my mom is having metastatic cancer stage 4, issuing out of breast. She is 55, 54, bearing weight 50. She s out of food for 2 months. Her belly, being bulged and having ascetics in it, is a great worry. Already, she has got 1st dose of chemo but in the second spell, she fainted and the 2nd dose remained incomplete. Now it is really worrisome situation as she is taking urine-inducing drug but its not working. This time, she is vomiting out as soon as she took a bit of buscuit. What should i do? Please tell me. Im helpless. Regards, Zaheer HashmiPakistan.
Hi, Thanks for writing in. Unfortunately your mother has stage 4 cancer which is difficult to treat. Development of ascites is not a good sing and might indicate spread of disease. Since she is not able to tolerate chemotherapy, it appears that her general condition is also weak. Her vomiting might be due to giving chemotherapy or inability to take food due to disease process and pain. Please try and control the vomiting first with injection and medicine if she can swallow. Then you can have a nasogastric feeding tube out through the nose in to the stomach. In this she can be given liquid diet through the tube. Parenteral feeding can also be started by giving her proteins and minerals through intravenous infusion line. Please do not worry.