Mom in coma

[melody&mom]

Hi everyone,

I wish I had known this site earlier.

My mom, 70, is in China.

Jan 2007: diagnosed as Stage IV NSCLC

Jan to May 2007: 3 chemos and 3 radiation treatments.

June 2007: Brain metastases was confirmed by MRI

August 2007: suddenly fell into coma one morning

Now: still in coma

Doctors are not sure what led to her coma: a cerebral hemorrhage or ?

I am seeking some advices here.

Mom is in coma and can not eat. Almost all her energy/nutrition is provided through vein infusion. Her cholesterol level is very high plus she had difficulty to breathe when fat emulsion injection was used. So her doctors use a large amount of glucose (vein infusion) daily as her energy source. She has one blood transfusion every week as another way to maintain some of her body functions. She keeps losing weight. Edema with her entire body due to the malnutrition.

We know that cancer loves sugar (or sugar feeds cancer cells). Are there any other good energy sources (through vein infusion) except for glucose? We don’t want to starve her and we don’t want to give up yet since the doctors said she may still wake up although the chance is so little.

I know this is not a very common situation. Any advice is really appreciated. Mom overcame some many difficulties to raise us and we don’t want to lose her.

Many thanks,

Melody

[MsC1210]

Melody

I don't have answers to your questions but I wanted to welcome you to the boards. I am sorry about your Mom, I hope the doctors will find answers for you and her very soon.

Please keep us posted

Christine

[RandyW]

I am sorry to hear this news today. I am going to give you the site of our resident oncologist. Dr West is in Washington and may be better at answering th treatment questions than we can. He is our on board oncologist and registration is free and advice is also prompt and thorough. THanks Dr West. His site is;

http://www.onctalk.com/post/

Click and you will be redirected.

2nd We have a member whose father is in china and I believe she is in NY trying to oversee his care abroad. You may want to PM her from our site. Just click on the Mail box tab at top of the homepage and a new window will pop up enabling PM O be sent. She may also have some helpful advice on how to go aboutall these things, due to the location.. Her name is;

Susan Xu

and she might be able to shed some light on the how to do portions of these problems. Sayin prayers for great thisngs and please keep us posted. we may be able to help more..

[Connie B]

Dear Melody,

I am so very sorry to hear this about your mom. From all the years of experience that I have had, when a patient goes into a coma it means the ending stage.

My father, my mother and my sister along with several people I knew that had lung cancer and passed from had all gone into a coma state before they passed. my father was in a coma for 8 hours, my mom 18 hours my sister 5-1/2 days (she woke up on the 3rd day for about an hour and fell back into the coma, and passed two days later).

During that time the medical team kept them comfortable (pain free if possibile).

I'm sorry if I am not offering hope, I never say never, and your mom may be the one that pulls through this. But, I personally have never seen that happen when they drift into a coma.

My thoughts and prayers are with you.

[melody&mom]

Dear all,

Thank you very much.

What is unusal in my mom's case is that she has been in coma for 4 months already. Her doctors said patients who fall into coma usually pass away within two weeks, but they don't know what is really going on with my mom.

Anyways I will keep you posted.

Thanks and take care,

Melody