Hello,

My grandad has been showing some signs of illness in recent months, to begin with it was things like breathlessness, which we put down to his 60 odd years of smoking finally catching up with him  (n.b. He has also recently quit and started using an e-cigarette), and generally just feeling quite lousy. More recently he has been feeling worse and has had other symptoms such as major weight loss, major loss of appetite, vomiting after most meals and feeling constantly tired.  

He has since been to the doctors and has been told he has cancerous cells on his lungs and liver. More tests are currently being run on fluid from his lung and his blood to investigate this further. It is difficult to say at this point in time how bad/far along these diagnoses are. Other factors such as his previous heavy smoking as I mentioned earlier as well as drinking have made some obvious damage to his lungs and liver. Despite this we are hoping for a clear diagnosis and treatment plan to be outlined by his doctors in the coming weeks. 

In the last week or two he has gotten particularly bad. Since his initial diagnosis two/three weeks ago his condition has deteriorated quite rapidly. This has been very shocking for the whole family to witness, as seeing just a month or two ago you would not have realised he had anything wrong with him. He is 78 and previous to these symptoms was very sprightly, especially for his age. He enjoyed socialising with his friends, spending time with his family and going fishing in the summer months. Since being told by the doctors about the cancerous cells, he has become rather depressed and this has been worsened by the symptoms becoming more difficult for him to handle. 

Due to his lack of appetite, he has lost a considerable amount of weight and now even fits into trousers that he hasn’t been able to get into for the past 9 years. He now struggles to eat little if any food and when he does manage to eat he feels sick after every ‘meal’ and most of the time ends up vomiting. My main worry right now is the lack of nutrition he is currently getting. My nanny tries her best to tempt him with food but this is not easy, and when he does finally eat, it doesn’t usually stay down for long. This resulted in my grandad passing out on Thursday morning. My nanny called an ambulance as she was very panicked, he was taken to hospital as the paramedics found him to have very low blood sugars and his ECG trace was irregular. He was connected to a saline drip and was feeling better than when he went in, this meant he was discharged on Friday night. My nanny is now becoming very worried again as he is becoming delirious (presumably through the lack of nutrients he has been getting), she has mentioned how he has asked numerous times today “what day is it?”, and has struggled operating the TV that he has watched daily and owned for many years. 

I am becoming increasingly worried for his current health, and am hoping some of you will have some suggestions on how I can help him with his appetite and getting more nourishment into him. As a family we never envisioned this would happen. I have my first A-level exam on Wednesday which are really important for my future career as a midwife. I am so determined to succeed however the thought of my grandad is constantly in my mind. Although I know my grandfathers diagnosis is not entirely clear right now, I was hoping that through some of your own experiences with your loved ones, you would be able to help me with how to safely increase his nutrition levels. This would really help ease my conscience for my upcoming exams.

Thank you all very much in advance,

Daisy