Hi everyone. I joined a few months ago when my mother was diagnosed with stage 4 bladder cancer. Before this, she was a spry 80-year-old who expected to live to 100. They found the cancer after emergency surgery and kidney failure from a bad stomach flu illness. She was so weak after that, she chose to forgo chemo for immunotherapy. She tolerated the treatment well and rebounded from her illness. Unfortunately, the immunotherapy did not work. She next chose a clinical trial, still hoping to avoid chemo. But the workup for the trial found a small tumor in the frontal lobe of her brain. She underwent radiation treatment for this tumor in hopes she could join the trial if it goes away. She had the radiation almost 2 weeks ago and has been going downhill since then. I don't know if it's the radiation or what is going on and I am freaking out. She has had peripheral vascular disease on top of it which caused her blood pressure to spike and a lot of pain in her lower extremities. The doctor prescribed a diuretic with potassium but now she is sleeping a lot and her breathing is labored and she has lower back pain. I'm worried it's her kidneys again. She is now headed to the office for some bloodwork and my guess is she will be admitted to the hospital.
What should I expect next? If she is battling it everywhere, as it seems (lungs, lymph nodes, bones, etc), is there still a chance for her to rebound or should I be looking into hospice? I can' imagine her being strong enough for chemo now. I want to do what is best but I do not know what to expect from here on out. Her pain has been minimal until just recently. Thank you and sorry if I rambled or I seem pessimistic. It's hard to be hopeful right now.
