question: 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 80's.  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 20's 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.