Gastric Cancer Stage Iv

Hello,

My sister has gastric cancer stage IV and it has metastitized... My question is for those of you who have been around some who died from this cancer... What were the signs that they were at their end? How do I know that she is at the end of her battle? She has been feeling very weak,and high fever  

So sorry for your sister's diagnosis.  I lost my husband February 22, 2008 to this horrible cancer (stage IV diagnosed 3 years ago).  At the end his symptoms were inability to eat (swallow); these were his first symptoms ironically.  He was very weak, vomited when trying to eat and slept alot.  At the very end he refused all food and liquids and slept most of the time.  He was kept comfortable with morphine (for pain), haldol (for restlessness) and lorazepam (for anxiety).  When his breathing became rapid and shallow, the hospice nurses told me he had maybe 24 hours - he lasted 13.  The change in breathing is a normal sign that dying is imminent.  I will pray for you and your sister. 

Diane

Another one of the end stage signs is the patient may begin to move alot in the last day or two. They are not really conscious, but there is a lot of motion of the arms and legs. A hospice nurse explained it to me as being a way that they process some of their last ties, and said it is quite common at the end. Many blessings on you and yours. You will be in my prayers.

 

On 4/1/2008 Paulina1 wrote:

Hello,

My sister has gastric cancer stage IV and it has metastitized... My question is for those of you who have been around some who died from this cancer... What were the signs that they were at their end? How do I know that she is at the end of her battle? She has been feeling very weak,and high fever  

Paulina1:

How old is your sister.  My wife (43) had stage IV that had metastitized to her liver.  She is currently in remission a year later.  Although we did catch it early with only two tumors (stomach 2cm and liver 2-3cm) the ECF chemo regimen worked great for her.  There are other success stories on this site.  Do not give up hope too early. 

 

The doctors told us that if you were to throw up a bunch of pennies in the air and let them fall that is where the cancer has spreaded. It is everywhere. Her oncologist said it is not the cancer that will kill her it is the fact that she has an intestional blockage that is stopping anything going into her system. She is strictly using IV nothing per mouth, every few seconds she is throwing up green bile, due to the blockage. We took her to a herbal md, that was dumbfounded because most of the stuff he wanted to give her is by mouth, the only thing he could give her was B12 & B6 complex injection and the VitC through IV     . Oh yes she is 41 

I am truly sorry for her. It does sound dire and I do not have any experience in that late of stage of the disease.  I wish the best to you both and comfort for her.  Stay with her as much as you can.  It is so very sad.

Steve

Hartford, Ct

I just wanted to say that my thoughts and prayers are with your sister, you and your family.

I was in the same spot a little over 6 months ago with my 53 year old mother.  It was the hardest thing I ever had to do and I wasn't even the one actually going through it.  My mom's first sign the end was very close was the vomitting of bile.  It was so traumatic for her.  I know a lot of people write about food and drink becoming unwanted near the end but, in my mother's case she was nourished with a feeding tube.  The cancer ultimately stopped that from working and she chose not to continue with iv methods.   I was given books to read about other signs the end was near such as the color of the urine darkening, the skin color (it might be called mottling?) and the breathing would change.  Sometimes her breath would stop for what seemed like a long time but, then would continue irregularly.  I saw these changes all happen in the last 10 hours of her life.

I truly hope the doctors and nurses find ways to make your sister as comfortable as possible.   Again my prayers are with your sister and family.

My dad had exactly this problem. The doctor used a similar analogy. He said it looked like someone had taken sand and sprinkled it all over his abdominal wall. This was in decmeber and he died February 21. The original diagnosis was in 2006.

The signs of death are generally pretty clear. A good resource and a very soothing one, is the Hospice website. And I know Hospice is not for everyone but God bless them for what they did for my dad and my family.

Keep your head up. There are no definite answers with this evil cancer.

Also wanted to add that my dad, too, had a blockage that ultimately caused malnutrition and dehydration. The benefit of being in a hospital or having end of life care is that there is no discomfort. My dad chose to take himself off the tube feeding about a week before he died, thus having no nutrtion whatsoever for over a week. The nurses were able to see the signs of renal failure and death and made us all more comfortable with what was happening.

Paulina-

I lost my father to stomach cancer this past November. It was also Stage IV and metastasized when he was diagnosed last May. He, too, had the "sprinkled sand" analogy made by Drs when referred to the peritoneal spread.  I believe he had a blockage as well at the end.  He could not eat/drink, was throwing up bile, etc.  A feeding tube was inserted and he had difficulty tolerating that from nearly the beginning and it was in only a matter of days.  One of the decisions the Dr told us we might have to make was when/if to "pull the plug" on the feeding tube.  It is disturbing to think about starving to death.  We did not have to make the decision as my father refused the tube on about the fourth day.  He had not been eating for approx 3 weeks and had kept down very little fluid other than IV hydration in as much time.  He died about 10 days after the feeding tube was inserted.  It helped me alot to have prepared for what to expect when the end stage arrived.  The site I used was brainhospice.com It is obviously designed for those with brain cancer, but after having lost both my father and a close friend to cancer last year, I can tell you that the end stage is basically the same for all.  That site has good timelines and descriptions. 

 All the best to you and your family as you continue on this terrible journey.  You are stronger than you may realize.