u/Capital_Poetry82

Hey everyone, I just started my mother on hospice (at home with me) this week. She has terminal esophageal cancer of the upper 1/3 and has qualified for hospice for some time. We went from her being mostly ambulatory a week ago to her being in bed 99% of the time (we still make it to the restroom on a wheelchair sometimes).

The main question I have is around her feeds and meds. When she’s awake, she’s miserable coughing up thick phlegm and having to spit into a cup as she can’t swallow. I only feed when she asks, but I think the days of her making much sense are limited. She’s on 350-700 calories of ensure a day depending on her request.

I’ve been giving hyoscyamine and lorazepam with morphine for discomfort, but it makes her sleep for hours. We’re in that weird place where she’s making sense sometimes but usually not. If anyone has experience with a loved one who was tube fed at the end of their days it would be great to hear from you. Thanks in advance!

My mother is going through end stage esophageal cancer of the upper third and we are starting hospice care this week. I believe we have selected a great provider and I’m hopeful they can offer her comfort in the days to come. She’s been living a miserable existence with her GJ tube and endless nausea. Some days she’s up over 24 hours with only 1-2 cans of ensure she can manage a day.

Anyone who has been through something similar, I’d love to hear about your experience with hospice, and or this type of cancer if you have any experiences to share. This cancer came out of the blue last year, and it was missed on a CT scan she had done in April 2025. We did not get the formal diagnosis until July 2025 when we got her rescanned and her ENT found it. It’s been aggressive and barely slowed down during her first full round of chemo and actually grew through her radiation treatment. Immunotherapy only slowed it a little as well.

Thanks for reading this far; I am a 100% sandwich generation kid who also has 12 and 4 year old girls. Mom has lived with me for about 9 years and this has been a hard time for us all.