Jaundice…. My Mum

My mum was diagnosed with ovarian cancer 2 years ago, which she had chemo and it kept things at bay. She has recently had a scan which showed something in her bile duct, so she has started chemo again. She had it a week ago and has been much more ill than when she had it before. She also has jaundice and itching and I’m worried sick. Could this be because the chemo is attacking the tumour… or because it’s too late?

927 posts since

25 Jun 2018

Hi and thanks for your post

I’m so sorry to hear about your mum – it sounds a pretty difficult time for you all, and it can’t be easy trying to cope with all the anxiety and worry.

I’ll try and explain her symptoms. The reason she has jaundice and itching, is because her bile duct is blocked, preventing it from carrying bile from the liver to the small intestine as normal. So the bile ends up in the bloodstream and body tissues instead. When you get a build up of bile in the body, high levels of bilirubin(which detect bile levels) can gather, causing itching and jaundice.

Hopefully, the chemotherapy will attack the cancer cells which are causing the blockage in the bile duct, meaning the bile levels will come down and so getting rid of the itching and jaundice.

The chemotherapy drugs she is having now, most probably will be different to the ones she had 2 yrs ago and as they all have different side effects, she could be finding these side effects more difficult to cope with. If her body is also trying to cope with jaundice, she may well be finding things harder to cope with this time around. This doesn’t necessarily mean she isn’t responding to treatment, especially as it sounds she has only just had the one course so far and it’s too early to say.

It’s really important that she tells her doctor and nurses how she is feeling and what sort of effects she is having, as there are many different medications that they can try and give her to help with the side effects of chemotherapy.

I hope you are able to talk to people about your worries. There is some information here about how to cope when someone in the family has cancer and also how to look after yourself Alternatively, Maggies can help support and talk to people with cancer and their families

If you would like to go over any of this with one of us here on the helpline, please do give us a ring. The number to call is Freephone 0808 800 4040 and the lines are open from 9am till 5pm Monday to Friday.

All the best to you and your mum

Wanda

Jaundice…. My Mum

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