<s>[INST] My mom was in the hospital for approximately 2 weeks- she had been having episodes of rapid heart rate, congestive heart failure, copd. And was put on iv antibiotics.  She was diagnosed with C-diff and died a few days later from that.  In her lifetime she did seem to use antibiotics alot for her chronic emphysema and probably the last six months or so complained of diarrhea.  My question is could she have had c-diff before she went into the hospital?  In the past two years she probably lost  30-40 lbs and lost her appetite.  She did eat but got very picky about what she would eat.  Her primary care doctor always did bloodwork on her and it always came back normal.  She also had alot of chest xrays that came out ok.  I was also wondering if she could have had some sort of cancer?  I have gone on numerous websites and could not find how long you can have C-diff and live with it without treatment.  She was also put on 3 liters of o2 the last 6 months of her life since her stats were in the 80s.  I guess I am also wondering about her rapid decline.  she was a heavy smoker all her life but she was so healthy and did alot up until about 2 years ago.  She would not leave the house and seemed very depressed.  She also had been diagnosed schiziophrenia in her 20s and was always on medication for that - she was on prolixim by injection every two weeks for  probably the last 10 or so years and was doing very well. [/INST] Well Hello her, Reading about your mother I understand she had a lot of pre-existing problems which left her body very weak. As her age is not mentioned here, I'm assuming she must be an elderly lady. I'm really sorry for your loss and I know that there may be a thousand questions racing through your mind.  Let's look at them systematically. She was a diagnosed schizophrenic from an early age and on treatment which has its own long term side effects. A necessary evil cos schizophrenia should be treated and it's a long term thing, so side effects could not be avoided. She was a heavy smoker which affected her lungs and heart leading to development of heart failure and COPD which are themselves life-threatening when present as independent entities in any patient. They were both present at the same time in your mothers case. One need not have a cancer. These two themselves are fatal problems leading to rapid decline in one's health. COPD is the condition where the lungs are damaged mostly due to smoking as was in this case and are not able to meet the needs of the body resulting in frequent infections and also cardiac failure. Smoking in itself is a major cause of heart failure as it causes degenerative changes in the heart and blood vessels. Your mother was already suffering from two life-threatening conditions and this along with the C-diff diarrhea proved fatal. Diarrhea in itself if not treated promptly proves fatal. So in this case we are seeing three independently life-threatening conditions coming together unfortunately, proving fatal in the end. So attributing your mothers death only to the C-diff diarrhea would not be appropriate. Hope you got your answers. Take care. </s>