Hello all : )
My mom is 78 and has had COPD for 10+ years. Before COPD she fought and won her battle against lung cancer and then brain cancer. She has been oxygen dependent 24/7 for at least two years. She has always refused to exercise. She eats garbage. She won't cooperate at all when we try to help her to help herself to live better.
Last month she was in the ICU with pneumonia and stayed for 10 days including a rehab facility that she checked herself out of AMA.
She refused physical therapy, home care nurses etc. decided to take herself off of her Wellbutrin, thyroid meds, and she only took her prednisone for half of the prescribed duration, AND decided she only needed to use her nebulizer once a day rather than four times that the doctor ordered.
This weekend she was at the ER again with pneumonia again. She refused a hospital stay, insisted on going home where she lives alone by her insistence.
At her follow up with her PCP he told her that her last month CT scan showed the possibility of returning cancer in her lung but could not be certain because of all the scarring muddling the field. He advised that a pulmonologist would provide further testing and possible treatment but she refuses that as well.
She has lost a lot of weight, she has no appetite, she is sedentary.
Can anyone give me any type of idea how seriously ill she might be? Should I alert family that she may have only months or? I'm just lost. I don't know what to prepare myself for.
I'm sorry for SUCH a long post. (Also she currently has nurses visiting, and adult protective services are looking into her safety/soundness of mind)
Thank you in advance :