Hello there Ajh1283.  I am so sorry that this has all happened in such a short space of time.  Some people do decline rapidly; I have a fairly limited experience of caring for cancer patients and they have all been different; the shortest was two months also from diagnosis to death but others I know have not always lasted much longer.  Every case is unique to some extent.  The shock is for the people who loved the patient; it is hard to take on board that so much awfulness could happen so quickly. You must be having a rough time taking everything that has happened on board and I hope that you will find a way through your grief eventually.  Annie

Hi Ajh1283

I am so sorry for your loss. 

My husband, aged 32,  recently passed away due to GBM and it was extremely fast, and a massive shock to myself and our families. I miss him so much and am so angry that he was taken so suddenly and so soon.

He started complaining of dizziness and light headaches in the beginning of March, maybe once a week. We went away for 2 weeks over easter and he was fine. When we returned in April the headaches started again but more frequently often accompanied by one or more of the following vertigo, pressure behind his ears and ringing in the ears, we went to multiple GP's as well as optometrists, we thought it was stress related. Early in May he had his first bad day, he had a terrible headache and neck pain and couldn't walk due to vertigo, I took him to A&E where he had a seizure and lost feeling in his right arm and hand and had ringing in the ear. He was given pain killers and told to use a hotwater bottle to ease the neck pain.

After another 2 GP visits and another serious headache we were finally referred to see an ENT (3 weeks after the first bad day), the ENT thought it was stress but sent y husband for an MRI to help put his mind at ease. They told him he had swelling on his brain and to go to A&E the following day for a steroid injection. He had a terrible night and the next day at A&E stopped breathing.

We were told that afternoon that he had a GBM and there was nothing that they could do for him, , the tumor had cut off the blood supply to his brain and he was brain dead.

Our neuro doctor told us that it was a very aggressive tumor and even if they had found it 2 months earlier when the symptoms started they would not have been able to help him. 

So in answer to your question, based on a lot of reading up on the internet and my very brief encounter I do think rapid decline happens quite often.

I hope you can find peace in this difficult time.

Sim90

im so sorry to read what you went through, it’s so scary to think that the symptoms your husband went through were mis diagnosed on so many occasions, the gp said my mum had ear infections and also missed opportunities to check her blood sugar. I wonder sometimes if with my mum all the doctors and nurses knew she was dying or weeks from death but just didn’t want to be the one to tell us. 

Its so so scary how fast life can change and I just miss my mum so much.

i wish you the best and hope you can find some peace x

Thank you Annie, 

i gurss tge shock is that these are the cancer patients you don’t hear about, the ones who do t even get a chance to have treatment. It makes me question, how long was the tumour growing, is it even a question that can be answered?

Thank you @ajh1283 , I wish you peace and comfort during this difficult time.

I am hoping to see a consultant once I receive his medical files from the hospital, I requested them last week, I just have so many questions which I didn't ask at the time because of the shock.

Did you get any of the answered you were looking for???