Update on brother in Florida with some strange questions? - Cancer Message Board

barto31 · 07-12-2002, 02:51 AM

Hi, Again thanks to all who have answered my previous post. I have had the chance to find out "some" things about my brother from my sister-in-law, however it seems the nurses, doctors and case manager are not allowed to talk over the phone about his condition. Apparently, my brother will be going home Monday with hospice care as he indicated he wanted to die at home. They are still waiting for the results from the cat scan on his head because his headaches are getting worse. I was told he is at stage 4 for colon and right lung cancer. He is on 9 medications (do not know what they are). He is looking more gray in the skin and has lost more weight (in one month went from 170 lbs down to 125-130 lbs) My questions are:
1) My sister in law also said beside lung, colon cancer he had carcinoma (spelling) cancer. I have been looking for carcinoma cancer but it does not seem it be a "definate" cancer just a name does anyone know what this would be?
2) My sister in law said he is off the morphine and on a stronger patch medication that starts with a "f" but did not know the name. She said is is stronger than morphine, due to his headaches and the morphine was not helping the pain.
3) My brother is not a sweat eater and recently she said that he has been asking for a forkful of a piece of cake and eating foods he has never liked before. Is this part of cancer? Meaning does ones body crave sweets for taste?
Again, my questions are based on what I was told and I do not know if they mean anything for his condition. My sister in law did indicate that his doctor believes he only has a few more weeks to live. Also, she said that when the doctor's took him off the morphine and put him on the new medication my brother has stopped seeing ghosts, but he still "feels" a presence in his room. I thank all those in advance who take the time to answer. Keep the faith. Judie

Jay Tor · 07-12-2002, 02:53 PM

1) Carcinoma is a general term for cancer and not a specific type of cancer. Sounds as though his cancer has metastized to the point where secondary [new] cancers are appearing in different tissues/organs.

2) Could be a general anesthetic, which is sometimes used when pain meds don't work. Not really sure though.

Narcotic analgesics [pain killers]: [url="http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/druginfo/uspdi/202390.html"]http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/druginfo/uspdi/202390.html[/url]

General anesthetics: [url="http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/druginfo/uspdi/203043.html"]http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/druginfo/uspdi/203043.html[/url]

3) Change in taste perception is common for cancer patients. Generally, anything that he can keep down is okay. Sweets tend to be calorie-rich, something he desperately needs. Chocolates, esp. the European type, would also be good as they contain cocoa butter, a fat that is noramlly quite easy to digest.