Help! My Dad has small cell lung cancer that has metzed to the abdomen, primarily the pancreas. We started chemo last week which consists of Carboplatin and etoposide. The Doctor said without treatment he probably had 5 weeks to live; with treatment they can buy him a year...maybe. He suffers more from constipation than any other thing at this point. He is not taking too much in the way of narcotics. They think that the tumor on his pancreas is causing problems. We spent half the night in the ER Friday night because Dad was in so much pain. It had been 11 days since he had had a bowel movement and he was so miserable. At this point, he had taken countless stool softeners, tried a Fleet enema (twice), tried Dulcolax suppositories and drank a 10oz bottle of magnesium citrate. Still Nothing! The ER Dr. had him drink an entire gallon of colyte which did nothing more than make him throw up forever. 5 hours after we got there they tried a "soap suds" enema and that finally worked. They did an x-ray and there doesn't appear to be a blockage. Now 4 days later he's back in the same boat. He's been taking everything just like they told him but nothing is working. They say it's because of the size of the tumor on his pancreas (softball size). Does anyone have any suggestions at all on how to relieve this or maybe information on what is actually causing it.
Tammy