Ask Dr Nerenberg | Health and Fitness

I need some help. I just found out that an extended family member, in her late 40s, has Stage 4 colon cancer.?

She was in relatively good health until she was diagnosed a few months ago. The cancer has spread all over her liver, to her lungs, and to other places, but I’m not sure where. She had surgery, but the doctors didn’t remove anything because they said the cancer was too widespread. They decided to try chemo, but after a few sessions, they said her body was rejecting it- which I assume to mean that it wasn’t working- and for some reason, decided not to try any more treatments. They have given her less than 6 months. I love her very dearly, but I do not feel that I can ask her or her immediate family question about her medical care because it might seem intrusive. I am struggling emotionally with this news, however. I don’t understand why further treatments wouldn’t be done. What would make a doctor decide to stop chemo all together after such a short time? Could there be something I’m not hearing through the family grapevine about her condition that would make chemo no longer an option?

The treatment may have been making her very sick. It did do that to my dad. I’m glad they are being honest with them. I get really bothered by doctors who push treatment when they know it is way past being useful and in fact making someone miserable. Hopefully they got into hospice which would work on symptom control, give medications, medical equipment and support from a variety of sources to make the last part of her life more comfortable so that she and her family would all be supported to allow them to spend this last period of her life together.

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