It's not getting much better for mum....but not getting worse either ..... overcoming this latest set-back has been difficult . Mum is very weak , but not seriously ill from this complication of the radiation. She has a good perspective and outlook . It's quite sobering when you see all the other people on this ward . A mother with colon cancer, a guy bald and anemic from chemotherapy and a large family assembled in a room where a woman is dying . There is an instant camaraderie with everyone here. As we walk down the hall, we greet the other patients and family members with a smile and a wave. Someone bought me up a coffee , another family offered a sandwich and someone else helped mum when her i.v got all twisted. We all know and understand the harsh realities of cancer treatment but this hospital has its own life force , separate somehow from the rhythms of the world outside. If it wasn't for the staff and volunteers, I think it would be quite unbearable. They obviously have a job to do, but they also bring a certain humanity and help to normalize a very abnormal setting.We both have a "secret crush " on Dr Khushalani . He looked immaculate today ....wearing beautifully pressed designer jeans and a lovely shirt , he has a real aura about him . He feels , like the other doctors, that it is just a matter of time to get over this acute complication and mum will eventually heal. In the meantime, she is going to have enteral feeding through her picc line . This means that a special high calorie liquid will be given through her veins . Hopefully this will give mum a bit more strength as she is starting to rapidly lose weight and muscle tone . This will not really cause her any long-term complications , but artificial feeding will help to give her more strength and help her get better .
From the perspective as a family member ....feeding someone you love is instinctive and I knew that today was the last day I could watch my mother lie in the hospital bed with no food.
