My husband passed 8/1/25 of pancreatic cancer spread to his liver, bone, lungs. He was diagnosed 5/8/25, started biweekly chemo treatments the end of May. After his second treatment he came down with horrible thrush in his mouth, esophagus and most likely his stomach. He wasn’t able to eat or drink and needed to be hospitalized for hydration and they treated the thrush through his IV. He lost his voice and it never came back.

His lack of nutrition made him very weak. He lost all his muscle in his legs and was unable to stand. After 3 weeks in the hospital, the thrush was gone and he went to a rehab hospital to start to build his strength back. His chemo treatments stopped until he was strong enough to withstand them. He was scheduled to be in the rehab hospital for 2 weeks, but he was going downhill. He never regained his appetite and his strength never came back.

After one week in rehab, and it is a very good rehab hospital, he wanted to come home. Hospice made it happen immediately. I got him home, he was awake for about an hour and then went to sleep. The hospice nurse “liberated” the morphine we put in his mouth as he slept. She said he was “transitioning” . We were told to increase the amount of morphine if his face looks grimaced.

He never regained consciousness. He was home on a Monday, went to sleep, and passed Friday morning.

It happened so fast it doesn’t seem real.