End stages of emphysema. How much longer can this go on?

I would like to know what you find out about this. I am the caregiver of my mother. She has some of the same symptoms. However, her issues only start there. We just recently found out, she has a spot on her lung and liver. We havent even addressed the liver. But, the spot on her lung has more than doubled in 6mo. She still continues to smoke. But, for the most part, she spends her time going from bed to chair. She goes to bed for oxygen. Chair for smoking. Appetite is at a minimum. Social life is at zero. I know things are only going to progress downhill. I just want to tag-team with phylllbug and find out what is in store for us to deal with. I love my mother and I just want to make her comfortable. Thanks for any help.
phylllbug, I send my prayers and thoughts for you and your husband.

Sadly, no one can probably give you an answer as to how long, it could be days, weeks, or even months. If your husband is not on hospice, I would check into it now.
They can really help. Him as well as you. Hang in there. I know when they linger it makes it so hard on the family, but yet when they are gone you want them back.
Hospice is covered by Medicare. Hugs to you.

If she qualifies for hospice care, then they can provide the tough love care for you by
speaking to her. My mother was the same way, but somehow they always got her to do what I couldn't.

My grandfather passed away from this. I am so sorry. It will not improve short of a miracle. I could hear his horrible coughing all night long. Does your husband still smoke? Grandfather was finally able to stop at age 86 and it gave him a little over a year--but I am not a doctor.
You need to be sure you are taking care of yourself because you must be exhausted due to the nights.
Reindeermomma is so right. Your doctor can probably refer you to a hospice. If not call one yourself and tell them everything. They will be completely sympathetic. My prayers are with you.

The answer to your question could be obtained by requesting that a hospice nurse do an evaluation. Hospice nurses are probably the best at helping family members understand disease progression. The other blessing with this evaluation is that if he is appropriate to be admitted to a hospice program, they are the best at ensuring his comfort and your peace of mind. Please as for this help as soon as possible.

Thanks for your postings. But, I do have another question. I know my mother. She will balk at having someone come in to help. I would love it. Then they could help me around the house. Keeping up her end of the house. Maybe getting her to shower more often. Maybe they could get her to do her nebulizer. I am still the child, to her. She doesnt listen to me. I am tired of beating my head against the wall. I am at a loss. I guess now I'm going to have to pull the..."My house, my rules". Tough love is no fun.

Our 95 year old uncle never smoked and was in good health until about 5 years ago when he had a serious bout with pneumonia that resulted in him being in the hospital or a skilled nursing facility for six months. He then started having mini-strokes and began aspirating his food. He was diagnosed with COPD/Emphysema but is doing better now that we have him on a regimen of nebulizer treatments. Sometimes questions like this might be best off left in the hands of God because his condition did improve. Make sure you get more help from hospice which can sometimes allow for someone to be stabilized and relieve burdens on caregivers.

Hospice is an extraordianary program, it is funded through Medicare, most programs of this nature provide you with round the clock nursing so that if your loved one is experiencing physical issues they can come out anytime, 24/7 to reassess the patient needs. They provide C.N.A.'s who can provide bathing 3 xs per week, a spiritual care coordinator who can work with you and your loved one's end of life questions etc., a social worker who can provide emotional and an array of other support to the family. Hospice affords the family an opportunity to work together as a family to prepare for your loved ones end of life process. Good luck and Blessings to you and yours.

I'm so sorry to hear you guys are dealing with this disease. My Dad actually was diagnosed at about 45, retired from Civil Service at age 50 with emphysema and died at 55 years old. Those were a rough 10 years, and I didn't realize how rough until later talking to my Mom later. (It's sort of weird how you can miss something right in front of you, but I was only 19 when he died...) From the situations you're describing, I'm sorry but I wouldn't expect any miraculous turn-arounds, and would be especially concerned with the weight loss that quickly and the skin color... The confusion and excessive sleep is from lack of oxygen. (They didn't even have that resource when my Dad was ill - I just remember him buying "Primatine Mist" inhalers all the time).Take care of yourselves and I agree with the advice to seek hospice care (although not all hospice workers are equal - a friend of mine did NOT have a good hospice experience with her husband, so...) I guess proactive is needed sometimes?

My grandfather, who was like a father to me passed from Emphysema and he had asbestosis. His emphysema took about 15 years to end his life. As a child I lived with him in 1987 when he was in the early stages. He still worked as a carpenter at the time but every morning he would wake up coughing, not on his own but because of the phlegm in his lungs. Then he would sit for an hour coughing up phlegm, every single morning. This went on until he had to stop working around 1991 and my Mom came to WV and lived with him from then on. By 1994 he was on a nebulizer several times a day, an albuterol inhaler and Theophylline. By 1996 he needed a motorized chair to get around and could not go outside during the winter. That's a big sign of emphysema, the lungs close up with cold air so those with emphysema cannot breath well in extreme cold or extreme heat. By 1999 he looked like he was in his late 70's instead of late 50's. I decided to move to WV to spend time with him. I moved here in July and he was pretty thin, stayed in bed most of the day, was tired a lot, hardly ate at all and his bone structure had even started to change. By September he stopped eating and would only drink iced coffee, stayed in bed all day, rarely said a word and one day my mom went to check on him and found him unresponsive. She called me and I raced there and he woke up, but was acting like he had a stroke, it was actually his carbon monoxide level was so high that he was hallucinating. We rushed him to the hospital where they put him on a C-PAP with pure oxygen and after a day his CO2 level came down enough for him to regain consciousness. He asked what was on his face and my mother said its keeping you alive. He asked what would happen if they took it of, she said you will die, he said take it off, and take me home. She did exactly that. She drove 90 to 100 miles an hour home, was stopped by police, but the police took so long getting out of the car she took off. She yelled to him she had her dying father in the car and he wanted to die at home and took off over 100 home. That sheriff had the nerve to call later and I told him I would have done the same and don't you dare come here while he is dying and try to take my mother away because you will not gain entry and if you do it will be over this Veterans dead body, he hung up and never called back. She got home at 10 pm and I picked his barely conscious body out of the car and put him in his own bed with his dog and he never regained consciousness after I got him inside. My mom said on the way home she asked him if he hurt, he said no, she said are you scared, he said no. I can't imagine a more brave man then my grandfather and I believe every word he said was true. We sat with him until 3am holding his hand and talking to him of good times. It was very hard. The hardest was watching him take his last breath and the look on his face, a look of fear, but after he was at peace. We bathed him, put on his favorite pajamas, VA or Veteran pajamas, he was a very proud veteran. We fixed a piece of cloth around his head so his jaw would stay closed and a little piece of tape on one eye. It was almost morning and he only wanted his sister to see him, so we turned on the AC on HI and called her to view his body the next day. I share my story with you because I watched him suffer with emphysema for all of my life and I can tell you anything about it and I am also in the medical field and have studied pharmacology and internal medicine, so I can answer any question you have. So, if you see that they look like they have aged a lot in a short period of time, their skin color is off or mottled, blue and pink, they don't eat, sleep all day, loose a lot of weight, they are not urinating much and what they do urinate is extremely dark and thick, it's time. I feel for anyone who has to watch a loved one go through this. I cannot wait to see him again in heaven. The best thing you can do for a loved one is ask them what they want, long before it gets past the time when they can't make decisions for themselves anymore. Also, get hospice involved, and don't be scared to just call them and tell them what's going on, it might be time for hospice to get involved. My grandfather didn't need hospice because he had my Mom who is a nurse with him 24/7 and me who was a field medic in the Army and laboratory technician and studied to be a physicians assistant. If you have any questions about what's going on with your loved one let me know.