New to forum 🌸 Mums Recent Primary Peritoneal diagnosis. Is pain before Chemo normal?

[BeeV123]

Hi all, this is my first post on here. Firstly want to wish you all the very best. My mum has recently been diagnosed with Primary Peritoneal cancer (stage 3). Since her biopsy (to determine the diagnosis) she’s been in a lot of discomfort which has progressively gotten worse. She’s gone through moments of constipation then diarrhoea, has had fluid drained from her a few times, a slight infection , and is now just in a lot of pain. She’s had lots of antibiotics, morphine and has to get strong in order to have her first chemo consultation. I just can’t see how she’ll be strong for it and wondered if anyone has gone through this and how have they made themselves stronger? It’s like we’re going round in a vicious cycle ie. she’s too poorly so can’t have chemo, but chemo is what (we hope) will make her ok eventually x

[Tillymint61]

Sorry to hear your Mums diagnosis and that she is so poorly. I was diagnosed with stage 4 primary peritoneal in Sept 2019. I was in lots of pain/discomfort leading up to starting chemo but all my blood tests came back ok so although I felt very ill, which was made worse by the worry of it, I was able to start chemo as planned.

Are they saying anything specific in her blood results. I would try and get a specific answer why they are delaying starting and you would then know which area you need your Mum to build on and look into. I'm guessing she has no appetite so what you can get her to eat needs to be high energy and nutritious .Not hugh in fibre. Small and often. Maybe ring one of the helplines for more specific advice.

Xxx

[BeeV123 in reply to Tillymint61]

Hi Tilly, I’m sorry to hear you had to go through that and hope you’re well on the way to recovery. Thank you for your speedy response and I will investigate further. They found a slight infection however are unsure where it’s coming from, the antibiotics have reduced it (they found a little fluid on the lining of her lung but actual lungs are clear). She has a consultation with the Chemo Dr. on Wed so hoping he’ll get her into treatment soon after. She’s very weak in bed at the moment and doesn’t talk an awful lot, she’s usually a very positive strong woman, and hope she gets that kick mentally soon. I imagine she’s just trying to process at the moment and is also very drowsy from all the meds xxx

[Tillymint61 in reply to BeeV123]

So sorry. She is probably as you say trying to process it all. Hopefully she will pick up soon and will be open to and up to chemo. Sending love. Xx

[OvacomeSupport Partner My Ovacome Team]

Hello BeeV123,

I am really sorry to hear about your mum. We are here to support you, so please don't hesitate to get in touch with us if you would like to talk anything through or if we can help with any information. Our support service is available Monday - Friday 10am -5pm and you can contact us by calling 0800 008 7054, by emailing [e-mail] or we would be very happy to arrange a one - to - one video call.

We would encourage you to talk about your concerns with your mum's clinical team so that they can look into the symptoms that your mum is experiencing and look at ways to manage them.

I wish you all the very best for your mum's consultation on Wednesday. Please do get in touch if there is anything that we can help with.

Best wishes,

Cathryn

Ovacome Support