My husband was discharged from hospital and started on hospice. Despite the efforts his sodium dropped every day we were in the hospital. When it was at 116 we were discharged on hospice. We were told he had days to weeks. It has been 2 weeks. Every day is differant. The constant is his severe weakness. Most days he stays in our room and moves from the bed to the recliner. He has no appetite and he looks like he has lost a lot of weight. Every day his confusion changes. Yesterday he seemed very confused the whole day while today he was more himself. I just don't know what to expect day to day. On good days I think they were off on the prognosis. Do you have any thoughts on your experience with patients with this condition and their prognosis?
Thank you
Ellen
SIADH AND SCLC - 1256159
ellen666
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Reply # - May 3, 2013, 02:02 AM
Reply To: SIADH AND SCLC
Really sorry to hear this, Ellen. It must be very, very difficult for you, and perplexing to see your husband oscillating between good days and bad days. I hope the doctors can shed some light, based on their experience with patients.
From reading multiple stories here, I've been struck by how amazingly resilient people can be - even people with advanced cancer. Looking at the symptoms of SIADH (syndrome of inappropriate anti-diuretic hormone secretion), it sounds as if some of your husband's confusion might be related to the low sodium levels, but I am sure that won't be any surprise to you.
Dr West wrote a post about the dying process - hard to read but helpful:
http://cancergrace.org/cancer-treatments/2011/05/06/faq-dying-process/
I hope you get some good moments with your husband in the time that is left. I am sure that your very presence will be helping and reassuring him.
Reply # - May 3, 2013, 05:41 AM
Reply To: SIADH AND SCLC
My husband Philip started with this syndrome a week before he died .He became very confused to the point that the nurses were sympathising with me for his dementia until I insisted with the consultant that everyone be informed that he was not.He actually died from pneumonia which they were unable to treat .In some ways I wonder if it was a kindness that he was not able to quite understand what was happening at the very end.He was only confused for the last 4 days.I don't know how much the sodium thing exacerbated the infection but it was all very quick we were shopping and enjoying the Olympics a few days before.
I hope that your husbands end is as peaceful as Philip's was.One thing that helped me was that I told him to go in peace and I truly felt this eased us both
God bless
Christine
Reply # - May 3, 2013, 09:32 AM
Reply To: SIADH AND SCLC
Its difficult to determine the exact cause of confusion in a dying patient. And, given the discomfort involved in testing, frequent futility of things to do to fix it, and frequent discomfort in fixing it when a specific cause can be identified, it's usually not worth it to chase down cause. Rather, the more typical approach to confusion in a dying lung cancer patient on hospice is to reassure them, gently re-orient them (as possible) and ensure their safety (vis a vis fall prevention and such). Variability and fluctuation are more the rules than the exceptions; it will be better for the loved ones to not try to read into any improvement/decline as necessarily indicating a worsening or improvement. This may be harder said than done, but it doesn't really help the dying person or his/her loved ones to try to exert understanding or control over an inherently uncontrollable or predictable process. My thoughts and prayers are with you (and, if you're Catholic, I note parenthetically that I'm headed to the Vatican right now).