OK so here goes nothing…
My dad is currently being seen by a myriad of specialists. He has a pulmonologist, neurologist, ENT, geriatrics and as of yesterday a G.I. doctor. He’s a multiple stroke victim who has COPD and is still smoking. He’s got major issues with his appetite and hunger but he is still eating, although not as regularly as we’d like. He was just seen by a nutritionist/dietitian. This man is 5‘11“ and over the past year went from 160 pounds to 117 pounds. We cannot seem to target exactly where the weight-loss is coming from. He has been given just about every single blood test there is and he has been scoped by the ENT and had a brain scan for the neurologist. Everything comes back clear. He also has a small amount of fluid in the pleura around his lung that was just drained, sent out and came back and it was negative of any suspicious or cancerous cells. The other thing that we are concerned about. Very concerned about! Is that it could be colon cancer. His dad had colon cancer at age 73 and he is age 71. The thing is that the doctor was very upset that he is just now seeing him. That we waited this long before going to a GI specialist. The thing is we were going to so many specialists that this is the very first time we were ever even referred to them or thought about going to a GI Doctor. I think we just felt like we were covering every base we could and apparently we weren’t. The scary part about all of this is that if we don’t find anything after the colonoscopy or endoscopy where does that leave us? He still wants to know why he’s not gaining weight. Does anyone have any other suggestions or doctors in mind? We are completely baffled as to why he is losing so much weight and so quickly. More weight he loses the harder it makes for him to get up and do anything. And so it’s a catch 22 for sure! Please if anyone has any suggestions or ideas on what we might be missing we would really appreciate it. Time is of the essence. Thank you!!
Raise this issue with whoever is prescribing the Warfarin. In my experience Lovenox is expected to be self administered. It's just an injection but either your father or you might have to do it. I couldn't do it for my father; I'm just not good at that sort of thing.
JoAnn raises good points about the challenges of a colonoscopy on someone who's frail. And Shad also raises the issue of cancer and weight loss. I think these are both factors to consider in going forward with a colonoscopy.
It will be hard on your father; he'll be very weak by the time he goes through the partial fast and prep.
I think the other issue to consider is that if he does have cancer, does he want to go through chemo and/or radiation?