How do you die from mesothelioma?

Answer 1

My Dad was diagnosed with mesothelioma in 2005. I was scouring the internet for "when you have mesothelioma, what do you die from?" Ya, from cancer, but how does that all play out. He died in May 2009. I thought I would relay his story in case anyone else was looking for this information. If you are in a hurry and can not read this story, here are some keywords you can look up: paraneoplasty syndrome, active dying. The things I found concerning these items were a play book of what was to follow. We lived on opposite sides of the country so I don't have ALL the details myself. He was diagnosed in 2005 and started taking Alimta. He was doing pretty well until October 2008. He was moving extremely slowly because he was so tired. I saw him next in January of 2009. He would sleep all the time and was very weak. But, once in a while he would show signs of life. Between January and May 1, he fainted 2 or 3 times and was suffering from extreme dehydration. Periodically he would get intravenous saline and he would feel better for a short time. Numerous trips to doctors did not reveal any cause for him being tired, weak and dehydrated. The oncologist was measuring the tumor sizes and they were getting bigger, but not much and did not cause any alarm. On May 1 he fainted again and was admitted to the hospital. He was diagnosed with mild pneumonia. He spent 3 days in the hospital where he continued to get weaker. Numerous tests did not reveal any problems although an EEG showed slightly lower brain activity. Since he was so weak, they sent him to a rehab center. In the rehab center, he would barely eat and could not do simple arm exercises. During the weeks around May 1, he lost 27 lbs. He slept most of the time. I called him a couple of times and we had good conversation but I could tell he was still very weak. After 4 days of not really doing any therapy, he was moved to a nursing home. Still getting weaker, not doing any rehab, and then started hallucinating … fixing things that were not there, seeing people that weren't there, etc. He was then moved to a section of the nursing home with patients that were REALLY sick. He had a lazy eye for about 2 months so my brother decided to take him to a neuro-opthamologist (sounded crazy to me, my Dad slept all the time and was hallucinating and my brother wanted to get him glasses?). The neuro-opthamologist thought these symptoms were a result of paraneoplasty syndrome. An untreatable, irreversible condition where the body is creating antibodies in response to chemicals given off by the tumors. The antibodies attack the nervous system. After reading about this on the internet, it sounded like the chemistry way of saying "you're dying". The next day (Friday) he was admitted to a hospice. I arrived the next day. He seemed to recognize me and threw up his are for a hug. He was totally in a daze, like a critically injured person that was still conscious. He said very few things that night, but all seemed coherent. They were giving him morphine and Phenobarbital in a pump. After Saturday, he never spoke again. The nurses kept turning him and he would moan and grimace, but no words. On Sunday, he developed Cheyne-Stokes breathing. A doctor visited later that day and said he had 2 hours to 2 days to live. They gave him more morphine, an immediate dose of Phenobarbital and increased the amount per each pump he was getting. Monday, his breathing changed to rapid and shallow. Not panting, but close. Now when he was turned, he did not moan or grimace. Early in the morning on Tuesday, he redeveloped Cheyne-Stokes breathing and soon after, he died. I always thought, as my whole family did, that there would be an increase in the size of the tumors to indicate an upcoming problem. That did not happen. I hope this account will help you and your loved ones deal with the eventualities of mesothelioma.