How do you tell someone that the operation they may be preparing for may kill them? or How do you tell someone this medicine they are going to take may go in either directions?
The value of life is personal. There is no single answer as to why we consider life precious. Everyone in this world has different ways they want to live their life. Some cherish every moment and some could care less. Getting sick or even worse getting cancer could be the scariest but yet the most single-minded thing to overcome. Some cancers are stronger than others and some people are not fortunate or strong enough to overcome it. In The Shift, by Theresa Brown a theme I found is medicine versus death from cancer.
 |
| https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=life+is+precious+ |
Without medicine there would be a huge increase in deaths per year. It is proven that untreated cancer causes more problems then the side effects of chemotherapy. Medicine is only going to grow from today and help save more lives. In The Shift, Brown states "We give out drugs like candy on Halloween, our patients need them" (Brown, 44). This shows how important medicine is today and without these different types of medicines, not only the ones for cancers, but for all diseases more lives would be lost as well as jobs.
Chemotherapy versus death from cancer
Although medicine is a positive theme in my book, it can also cause some harm. Some medicines are strong and sometimes a doctor or a nurse may not know what the outcome could be of a patient that takes a certain drug. For example, In The Shift, Theresa has a patient named Richard Hampton who has lymphoma (cancer in the lymph nodes). Brown is in charge of administering a risky drug called rituxan. Rituxan is a cancer medicine that interferes with the growth and spread of cancer cells in the body. It is one of the scariest treatments used against cancer. Since Richard Hampton's cancer is getting worse by the day, administering rituxan may be the only chance to save him. However, there is a good chance this medicine could kill him since he is not strong enough. Something that Brown struggles with is how to tell a patient they are about to die. In the book, Brown says, "There's nothing easy about helping someone start the journey from life to death" (Brown, 123). Every nurses miracle in an oncology is for the patient to confront their own possible death and move on. Yet, it is harder when the patient is not able to confront their death because they are in denial they are dying and for the nurse to tell them their percent of living is low. Nobody wants to tell somebody the operation they are preparing for may kill them, or the medicine they are about to take may kill them. It is not easy. Nurses do everything to help and save patients and telling someone they may die is the worst part. But nurse's always need to be positive around their patients because they are two people with a shared mission: healing. Often people think that once somebody gets cancer their life is over. But life is too precious and too short to give up that easily. Proving people wrong may be the best medicine.
All about rituxan
 |
| https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=a+nurse+telling+a+patient+they+are+dying |
Are those two questions at the beginning two of your essential questions for the quarter? If so, that's a good way to approach some of your Thursday blogs.
ReplyDeleteThis is an upsetting topic to read about, and it's not a position that I'd like to be in, either as the patient or the provider. In your books, do the nurses have these difficult conversations, or do the doctors?