CVC and TPN

The doctor suddenly came in and presented us with the fact that mum's nutritional intake may not be enough for the impending surgery. He recommends the placement of a CVC (central venous catheter) in order to conduct TPN (total parenteral nutrition), which is reserved for patients who cannot take in food the "normal" way.

He came back with a nurse, and right there, on her bed, injected a massive needle into a vein on the side of mum's neck. Some local anesthesia was administered, but still it does not completely remove the pain that lingers on. This is all in preparation for the intestinal bypass surgery, planned for tomorrow.

Already, mum has a tube sticking out of her nostril, two tubes going into her port vein, and now two more places on the neck where tubes can be connected to. It's not a pretty sight, and again the question that arises: what are they doing to her? Is she soon going to be free from all these tubes and invasive treatments...? Will any of this work to "treat" her inability to ingest food and even water, or are all these procedures just prolonging her pain and suffering?


Mum is lying there, now even more lethargic and perhaps in even more pain than before. And it is so difficult, so very difficult to bear...




PS: something I read on Wikipedia (the most reliable source of information, I know...) worried me:

There is no evidence to support the idea that intravenous nutrition 'feeds the cancer, not the patient', but weight loss with advanced disease is significantly more complicated than simply replacing calories as cancer produces a multitude of chemicals that also lead to weight loss, and giving extra nutrition does not prevent this.