Both of my parents are gone.  I lost my Dad 8/13/2005 to Pancreatic Cancer at age 80. It was very painful for him, and lasted a long long time.  My Mom, I lost in March 2007 to Pancreatic Cancer.  Hers came on extremely quickly and was extremely painful.  It's not what killed her, though.  She ruptured all of the veins and vessels in and around her stomach from violent vomiting.  The doctors did not catch that, and her stomach died from lack of blood, and the other organs started to die due to lack of nutrition.  She, quite literally, died from the inside out.  The State was threatening me with elderly abuse because I wasn't forcing her to eat.  When she died, the Doctor apologized profusely, but the State, NEVER offered up even as much as an "oops".  They tried to take everything that my family owned, and threatened to put me in jail, and they had NO CLUE what they were doing, or what they were talking about.  Well, this comes to memory, for today (1 August) is my Mom's birthday.  All she ever wanted was to give me and my kids a good life.  She was a great lady.  She lived to 82.

    By the way.  Currently in the US, if you have an elderly family member that needs prolonged medical care, there is care available to them for something like 90 days.  Once that has been exhausted, you are required to provide care for them.  If you cannot provide adequate professional care, you may take care of them on your own, under State supervision.  IF the State does not feel you are doing a good enough job, however, everything that you, or anybody in your family owns, then becomes property of the State, and you still have to pay off any debts, even though the property has been confiscated.  Also, you stand a very good chance of going to jail if you fight them.  Welcome to the preliminary  stages of "Obama Care."

    It's a horrible feeling to watch your Mother, whom you love dearly, suffer, and at the same time have the State threatening you, and accusing you of not caring for your loved one.  Here it is 3 years later, and I still feel so badly because I couldn't do anything for her.  I knew she was in excruciating pain, but I could not convince the Doctors of that.  After she died, the Doctor said that he would have never guessed how much pain she was in, and said she was very stoic.  Yes, that's what I tried to tell them.  She had developed a hole in her body that the blood was leaking from.  They had a bandage and a pump on it.  This was RETARDED.  There's a hole oozing out blood.  The answer is FIGURE OUT WHERE IT WAS COMING FROM.  Wow, I still can't believe how stupid they were.  I still wished I could sue the State for bringing on extra mental anguish.