Prognosis is worse than I thought

[u/No-Permit-9519]

Hi

I posted on here about a month ago, I had ended up in the hospital with fluid around my heart and my oncologist told me I had maybe 6 months-1 year to live. Well, on Saturday I wound up in the hospital again thinking it was the same problem. Turns out, the tumor next to my heart grew from 4cm to 13cm in the month I’ve been home, and it’s pushing on my heart & causing a lot of strain. The oncologist then explained that he had tried to be optimistic about my prognosis in July, but because of this development he thinks I have a few weeks left at most.

I’ve just been crying since I got home. I wanted more time with my family and friends. I feel so rushed now, all the plans I had just went down the toilet. Thank you to everyone who read my rants and gave me advice, I wish you all the best.

[u/Enough-Scholar7153]

I’m sorry for sounding uneducated but what does fluid in the heart mean? 

[u/No-Permit-9519 → u/Enough-Scholar7153]

Not at all! They explained it to me like this:

The heart has a membrane around it (sort of like a balloon), and the membrane always has a little bit of fluid to keep the heart moving smoothly. What happened to me was that the tumor pressed on that membrane and caused it to fill up with way more fluid than it needed, which put a lot of pressure on the heart and nearly made it stop beating.

[u/Enough-Scholar7153 → u/No-Permit-9519]

Oh I see, I am very sorry... Thank you for explaining this to me. 

[u/Bammerrs → u/No-Permit-9519]

That's what mine did, surgeon told me that he usually gets only a tablespoon or so. When I came out he told me that he got about a quart and I had a drainage tube.