How do we know that these are the last days

[Vidya S]

What could be symptoms of the last days in an MDS patient.
How do the care takers observe/understand such situation.

My mothers glucose levels are high and not coming down for the past 2 days and complains of pain below the chest.

Is uncontrolled high sugar is any indicator about her deterioration of the condition.

[Birgitta-A]

Hi Vidya S,
MDS patients often have infections and bleedings when they are very ill.

As far as I understand your mother's symptoms with high blood suger and pains below the chest can depend on some kind of infection. Has she fever? What about other tests like CRP and WBC?
Kind regards
Birgitta-A

[revchris5802]

stress can certainly raise the blood sugar, and some kind of monitoring and treatment is probably called for. In addition, if she is taking steroids, that also raised the blood sugar. Also an infection can be a factor as well.

But your question really asked about the last days. You can expect that the appetite will go away, and that thirst will not really be noticeable to them. Try to resist the urge to force feed, as that can contribute to problems like choking, aspirating, etc.. which is worse. Food preferences may change- foods may taste different- very sweet, or bitter, even favorite foods. My mom craved herring, cookies and pudding. I just went with what she asked for, and let her stop when she wanted to.

As death comes, the body temperature may be off- very hot or cold. Keep them cool or warm as need, and dry with comfortable bedding. Movement is more difficult, so assistance may be needed with keeping the joints flexible. Just simple supported movements can help the stiffness.

in the very final days, breathing becomes labored. Positioning may help, but they may also feel better with oxygen and perhaps a pain medication or anxiety medication.

Don't do the final days alone. Seek the help of hospice- they are fabulous. No one knows when death will really come. But they focus their entire attention on comfort. Once in a while people out live the hospice team, but mostly they are a great help during a very difficult time. Good luck to you.

[sstewart09]

Steroid use can also cause high glucose levels.

[bebop]

I think everyone is different but kind of follow a process. For my Dad they stopped his transfusions about a month before he passed. He didn't eat much if any for about a week. Rarely had more than a few sips of anything to drink and slowly got weaker. Thank goodness the things they said would happen did not. Again though I think everyone is different and no one knows a timeline.

[billyb]

A few different things can raise gluclose levels: Some treatments are sugar based and the body can change, Diabetes, changing how and when you eat, especially before a cbc, ask you doctor for a fasting gluclose test if your mom is healthy enough to find out....Billy