YOUR CANCER YOUR LIFE – SYMPTOMS OF EXTENSIVE (METASTATIC) DISEASE (CANCER IN THE LIVER)
If there are secondary growths in the liver, they will gradually replace it. Until over ninety per cent of the liver is destroyed, it is still possible for the remaining cells to do its normal job. The liver’s job is complicated but basically consists of purifying the blood by clearing out various waste products, drugs, etc. The liver also makes some substances which help the blood to clot normally. If less than ten per cent of the liver is functioning, the patient gets yellow jaundice—the eyes and skin look yellow because bile-like substances are not being cleared properly from the blood. (Yellow jaundice also develops when there is a blockage ol the bile system, for example, with gall stones—it does not necessarily mean a disease of the liver itself.) Because the blood does not clot as well as normal, a patient with a failing liver bruises and bleeds easily. Fluid tends to accumulate in the body, especially in the abdominal cavity. Often there is no pain because pain only occurs if the cancer deposits break through or stretch I he sensitive outer lining of the liver. As the liver enlarges it tends to press on the stomach, causing loss of appetite and sometimes nausea. There are drugs which can help this. Gradually impurities build up so much in the blood, that the patient becomes tired and drowsy and eventually loses consciousness altogether and dies.
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