Question: My mother in law is 84. Given her history (detailed below) and her failure to thrive, we are wondering if she might not be slowly succumbing to cancer.

She has a pace maker (implanted XXXXXXX 2010). Previous to the pace maker, she had a fib and extreme exhaustion. She had also lost about 10 pounds even though she was eating well. We thought once she had the pace maker, some of her exhaustion would subside and she would gain some of her weight back as she was never the least bit overweight to begin with - she is 5'9" and was always around 135 lbs. She never seemed to improve. She had a bout with pneumonia after the procedure and that, of course, set her back for awhile. She also complained of dizziness, although she's always had a tendency for this for many years, but her ENT told her it is exacerbated by her extreme weight loss. She continued to lose more weight and in Mar 2011, was hovering around 105 to 108.

She is also a breast cancer survivor (10yrs since treatment). She is monitored often for any reoccuring lumps. She has had some masses appear, but they were always declared scar tissue.

She is currenly being treated for myasthenia gravis (diagnosed in Sep 2011) with prednisone, which seems to have alleviated her MG symptoms. She has gained 10 pounds, but she is also having swelling in her feet and legs, which I think comprises some of her weight gain. She continues to eat very well.

She felt fairly well for about a month after a few weeks of rehab and the prednisone for the MG (nov-dec 2011), but now she seems to be back in decline. She has had a 2 week bout of diarrhea, a tooth infection and is now complaining of extreme dizziness which she says is debillitating. She is also experiencing increased swelling in her feet and legs despite the fact that she is taking lasix everyday. She seems to feel worse than ever. She does not complain of any nausea due to the dizziness, but she always seems to have an upset stomach. In the last month, she has had an ultrasound on her legs to rule out any blood clots, seen her GP about the swelling and dizziness which he prescribed lasix for the edema and ran some blood tests that indicated nothing new.

Over the last 18 months, she has had numerous ultrasounds, CT scans, chest xrays, and biopsies of lung masses that have not shown malignancy. Her previous GP told her she suspected my mother in law had cancer even though the biopsies showed nothing and none of the tests she has undergone has ever indicated it. She felt the myasthenia gravis may have been triggered by cancer. She also thought my mother in law would benefit from an anti depressant, but that only enraged my M-in-IL. She tossed the script in the trash.

She is naturally very stressed about getting old and losing her independence, but she continues to be able to conduct her affairs and is able to feed and dress herself. She can walk with a walker, but she is quite frail. She is so fiercely independent, we dare not speak to her own GP, a new one since we just moved her from her previous home last month, because if she ever found out, she would be extremely angry that we are going behind her back. She lives in a a nice XXXXXXX independent living facility but she does not want to participate in any activities as she says she always feels so bad.

Her neurologist has her tapering down her prednisone. She is currently down from 40mgs to 25mgs and the plan is for her to go to 10mgs and maintain. After her MG was diagnosed, she was the best we had ever seen her in 2 years. She had 5 weeks in a rehab facility along with the medication (oct 2011) and she was feeling fairly well. My husband and I moved her across country in late December, which she was anxious to do to be nearer to us, but has been in seemingly ill health ever since. Her current GP doesn't know what he can do for her. He can only say she needs to continue to follow up with the cardiologist and neurologist, but we feel no one has yet taken a complete holistic veiw of her. The neurologist looks at her MG issues, the cardiologist at her heart issues. Everything is being treated and tested, but she continues to feel very ill. I can't blame her new GP for not saying he suspects something much worse than the things they definitely know, but we would like to know what we might be dealing with here.

I also wanted to add, she is on cumadin and blood pressure medication. She does have high blood pressure which is well controlled by the medication.

We just don't understand if this is normal for some elderly people to feel ill ALL the time or if she may be succumbing to cancer which is very hard to detect. I guess we would like to know if the opinion might be a terminal situation as we would just focus on making her as comfortable as possible. If it is just depression and/or the beginning of dementia, we will look into how to best deal wtih that. I know you can't say for sure, but your honest opinion would be greatly appreciated.