My mom is currently in hospice care (more
home care than anything since hospice
doesn't do much) having given up her
battle with colon cancer. After a
november surgery for a small bowel
obstruction (adhesion from previous
surgery - not cancer tumor) she has been
continually getting weaker. She went
back in the hospital around jan 1st at
which point no one could determine the
exact cause of her problems (malabsorption
and dehydration, and getting weaker).
All tests came up negative and the doctors
just wrote her off as having metasticized
cancer. She is at home now using no
medications (she is not in pain although a
little discomfort from edema), etc
waiting/wanting to die. She is
completely immobile and drinks and eats
very little. She also has no bowel
control whatsoever and requires changing
15 or so times a day. I have two
questions - 1) how does her body produce
so much bowel product with no food
intake?; 2) why would she have such
constant diarria (sorry about the
spelling) and no bowel control? She
knows when she is going but she can't stop
it. She does not want to take anything
to make it more solid (imodeum, pepto,
etc) for fear that she will have another
blockage. She has had two previous
blockages (2-1/2 years ago when first
diagnosed, and november) and doesn't want
to go through that again.
Any ideas?
Thanks
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retirednurse
New User, Becoming EHEALTHy
Joined: 31 Jan 2005 Posts: 3 Location: UK
Posted: 01-31-05 07:46am
Hi, and i`m sorry to read about your mum`s
condition.
My late husband had colon cancerso I know
what you`re going through.
The constant bowel motions could be either
of two things:
1. Simple loss of control due to the
tumour causing frequent bowel spasms.
What helped my husband in this case was
taking codeine phosphate (to slow down the
bowel contractions) prescribed by his
doctor.
2. Alternatively, it`s possible she is
constipated/partially obstructed whereby
the loose frequent motions are the fluid
part of the stool bypassing the
obstruction. Hence its difficult to treat
without knowing the cause as in this case
the opposite treatment ie fybogel or
similar to cause a proper bowel action
would be in order. Your mother`s doctor
should examine her and decide which it
is.
The substance she is passing will mainly
be the fluid released by the bowel walls
in response to the tumour/constipation or
obstruction. This can make her dehydrated
so you need to keep her drinking little
& often if you can. Hope you get the
medical and psychological support you need
through this difficult time. Best wishes,
and hope this helps a little.
