Liver Cancer Incurable Question?

My fatherinlaw was just diagnosed with Liver Cancer, no cure. He is in late 60's. Poor health. He has been in hospital for 20 days now. He has turned yellow, breathing problems. We are waiting from doctor to tell us how long he has to live. I can't stand the waiting. Someone told us you only have days once your jaundice. Is this true? Someone please help.

Thanks everyone for your replies.
We were told he has days to live. They released him from the hospital today and hospice has been called.

yes. his passing sooner will hopefully make it easier since you know he's interminable and in a lot of pain. he is in the advanced stages of liver failure with the jaundice he probably only has several weeks left tops. sorry about your soon to be loss.

Not sure .But sorry for your pain.

oh i'm so sorry to hear.. but seeing as how he has all the pretty late symptoms, i think he has a short while more to live.. again, very sorry.. but he'll be in a better place where he won't hurt any more.

No one has this answer - every person has his own time frame on when he/she is going to die. He could be this way for several more days up to a couple of months. Doctors can only make guesses on how long someone has left to live. Spend each day talking about good memories, bring him whatever foods he might like (although he may not have any appetite). Ice cream goes down well for most people with this condition. Expect his breathing to get worse. He should be deciding now whether they will put him on a ventilator or not and he should be getting his will and legal documents in order before he becomes unconscious - your husband can help him with this and there are people in the hospital that can also help. Enlist the services of hospice - they can help everyone get through this trying time.

I'm sorry to hear your sad news. No doctor can say how long a person has left to live. They can only give an estimate.
Jaundice can occur from the very early stages of liver cancer, so it's not true that it is an imminent sign of death.
Are you in the UK? If so, has he been referred to the Hospital Macmillan nurses? If he hasn't, you need to go and ask to see them. They are far more qualified to give you advice about this kind of thing. They will also be able to advise on palliative symptom control.
You and your family are in my thoughts.

You really can't predict how long a person has to live. Jaundice is very common with liver or other gastrointestinal cancers. They can go very very yellow.....even the whites of their eyes can eventually turn yellow.
You're better not to know how long they have left.......just love him and make the most of every minute he has left. Treat each day as his last and reassure him that although everyone will really miss him when he's gone, that you will all look after each other and be ok. Sometimes people hold on waiting for their family to release them and say it's ok to go...........it doesn't necessarily mean they will die right away........just that when they are tired and can't fight it anymore, they can go with a sense of peace.
The days ahead of you will be long and trying and I will pray your entire family will feel peace and a sense of calm.

I'm sorry to hear that, but my mother had cancer and once jaundice set in she only lived about three weeks. I'm so sorry to hear this.

Jaundice is the yellowing of the whites of
the eyes and skin that appears because
the liver isn't able to handle a substance,
known as bilirubin, and convert it into a
soluble form to flow with the bile out of
the liver and into the intestines to help
in the digestion of fats we eat. This usually
occurs as a first sign of a liver problem.

There is so much involved in how a liver
patient progresses in this disease. It
depends on how aggressive the cancer is,
how much of the liver is being affected
by the cancers to cause death of the
liver cells, whether the cancer has gone
to other areas, if the patient has other
health problems or diseases, and a number
of other things. No one here can tell
you, for certain, how long a patient has.
Considering the doctor has all the tests
results, his medical background, and
knows what treatments might help...it is
best to speak with him. They can give
you the best Guess as to how long he may
live....he even might suggest having him
evaluated for liver transplant if the cancer
is only in his liver. So in answer to your
question>>>it isn't always true that you
have only days to live once you become
jaundice...there are other things that may
take place after that....like developing
fluid in the abdomen because the liver
doesn't make a protein sufficiently,
known as albumin, anymore. Then toxins
can build up in the body and cross the
blood brain barrier and go into the brain
causing the patient to become easily
confused. If fluid does develop in the
abdomen, the doctors can do a procedure
known as a paracentesis, to drain it and
help the patient breathe better.
Here is a site on cirrhosis that is easy
to understand:
http://digestive.niddk.nih.gov/ddiseases...

I hope this information helps you in
understanding more of what is going on
with your father in law. This is a very
difficult time and it is good to spend as
much time with him as you can.
It would be good, now, for someone in
the family to have an advanced directive
or power of attorney signed by him so
that your family doesn't have problems
with the privacy laws and speaking
with his doctors and handling his affairs.

Best wishes to you and your family.