When life is condemned to the end, do you choose to do your best to survive or to completely fly and complete the last journey of life in style?
Lao Du in Hangzhou, 85 years old, was diagnosed with advanced liver cancer, and he interpreted his choice with practical actions.
01. After discovering his condition, he insisted on going home after ten days of hospitalization
In 2017, Lao Du was rushed to the hospital for treatment because of a coma with a high fever, and everyone thought it was just an ordinary cold and fever, but he was unexpectedly diagnosed with liver cancer, which was still advanced.
The doctor asked for immediate hospitalization to prevent the development of the disease, but Lao Du's daughter was worried that the old man would be stimulated, so she did not tell him the real situation as soon as possible, but asked the doctor to help hide it and was admitted to the internal medicine ward.
So, after being hidden from the hospital for 10 days, watching the people in the next bed change wave after wave, he still couldn't bear it and asked to be discharged.
In the end, everyone unanimously discussed and decided to give him conservative treatment first, and the doctor prescribed some medicine and then let him go.
02. Playing mahjong and eating snacks is just unwilling to undergo chemotherapy
Lao Du, who was discharged from the hospital at home, quickly resumed his previous rhythm of life, and every day he either went to the park for a walk or invited three or five friends to play mahjong together.
When it was almost time to eat, he went to buy vegetables and cooked at home, and sometimes he didn't want to cook, so he went to eat a bowl of hot beef vermicelli soup near his house. Life is delicious, if it weren't for the regular consumption of a lot of chemotherapy drugs every day, everyone may not think that he still has liver cancer.
In fact, he is not confused, his daughter's careful thinking has long seen through it, what ordinary diseases need to take so many medicines, and the last time I went to dispense medicine, I knew that the medicine I took every day was only taken by people with cancer, but I just pretended not to know.
If it weren't for the deterioration of the condition, probably no one would have pierced this layer of window paper.
In the more than two years since he was diagnosed, he was hospitalized three times, the first time was at the end of 2017, because the conventional diuretics no longer worked, and he also had chest tightness symptoms, and under the advice of the doctor, he was hospitalized for observation for a period of time.
Because he did not cooperate with chemotherapy, he was reluctant to continue to be hospitalized, and only after his condition was temporarily stabilized did the doctor let go of the matter and was discharged.
03. Deterioration, abdominal infection, palliative care
Such days have been until September 2019, at this time Lao Du's symptoms have worsened more and more serious, abdominal distension and leg edema caused by liver ascites, so that he can not eat for several days, and the most terrible thing is that cancer pain attacks, there is no place in the body is comfortable, and no amount of painkillers have any effect.
Under the coercion and temptation of his children again and again, he was hospitalized again.
It's just that the results of the examination are not optimistic, and the abdominal cavity is also infected. He also knew his own situation, his age was here again, and tossing and going was nothing more than adding to the pain of himself and his family, so after staying in the hospital for more than half a month, when his body recovered, he was clamoring to be discharged, because at this time he had entered the third stage of advanced symptoms of liver cancer, and the doctor did not say anything, but only instructed him to be mentally prepared.
On October 11, Lao Du was admitted to the palliative care hospital in the street, received palliative care, and passed away within a month.
1. If you have advanced cancer, do you go all out to treat it or give it up?
According to the latest global cancer burden data in 2020, the continent ranks first in the world in terms of both new cancer cases and mortality rates. And clinical data shows that many people are diagnosed at an advanced stage, and it is a very troublesome choice to treat or not.
Especially after the cancer enters the advanced stage, even if the treatment may be empty, and the dilemma of having no people and money, whether to continue treatment or choose to give up is the ultimate problem for many families with advanced cancer.
In fact, the treatment of advanced cancer is more about prolonging the survival of patients, achieving the purpose of stabilizing the disease, reducing pain and improving the quality of life.
As for how to choose whether to treat advanced cancer, it is recommended to start with these three aspects:
• Patient's willingness: If the patient is completely uncooperative and unwilling to accept the treatment, even if there is a good plan, the effect will not be exerted, so the patient's willingness is an important reference factor in the treatment process.
• Assessment: Cancer can also be used to comprehensively assess the effect and risk of treatment or no treatment by quantifying indicators such as disease severity, tumor type, stage and physical condition.
• Financial burden: The cost of cancer treatment is generally high, and those with poor family conditions may face a serious financial burden if they adhere to the treatment, so their own financial affordability is also an important reference condition.
2. Doctor's reminder: terminal cancer does not mean "waiting for death"
Cancer is easily associated with death, and in the eyes of many people, cancer may not be far from death, but in fact, the prognosis of cancer is different at different stages and manifestations. Tends to be the earlier the stage, the better the prognosis, and conversely, the later the stage, the worse the treatment effect.
For example, pancreatic cancer, which is known as the "king of cancer", once it enters an advanced stage, the deterioration rate is very fast, and conventional treatment cannot be controlled at all, so the survival period of patients is relatively short. However, if it is detected and interdicted early, the treatment effect of cancer is very good.
In fact, most early-stage cancers can be cured by conventional treatment, and there is no need for radiotherapy and chemotherapy, and the chance of survival of more than 5 years is very high.
Therefore, whether cancer can live for a long time depends largely on whether it is detected early, and the less painful it is to intervene and treat early.
In addition, some cancers still have a chance of being cured even if they are at an advanced stage, such as the following 3 types of cancer:
1. Differentiated thyroid carcinoma
Although this type of cancer has a high incidence, it is not like other malignancies in that it can survive with the host for a long time. Moreover, this cancer progresses very slowly, does not metastasize easily, and is relatively malignant.
Generally, differentiated thyroid tumors are < 1cm in diameter, have no metastasis, and can be cured by surgery, and more than 90% of patients can achieve a 10-year survival rate or even cure.
2. Prostate cancer
As the name suggests, early-stage prostate cancer grows in the prostate, because the development characteristics require a large number of androgens to participate, so even in the middle and advanced stages, endocrine therapy can be used to control androgen secretion and inhibit cancer development, and this cancer is very lazy and spreads very slowly, and the five-year survival rate of patients can reach more than 80%.
3. Breast cancer
Early intervention of breast cancer is timely, and generally more than 95% of patients have a 10-year survival rate. Even in the advanced stage, although there is no cure, treatment can be used to control the symptoms, delay the progression of the disease, and achieve long-term coexistence with the tumor.
Although cancer is terrible, it is not completely impossible to deal with it, especially the earlier the stage, the better the treatment effect, so the best way to deal with cancer is early detection and early treatment. Therefore, it is necessary to have regular medical check-ups, and in addition, it is also necessary to ensure a healthy lifestyle on a daily basis to prevent cancer from taking advantage of it.
Resources:
[1] "Terminal Cancer, Should You Stick to Treatment or Give Up Early?" The oncologist told the truth! 》. Health Times.2021-07-04.
[2] "Ninety percent of cancer is curable, just because you forgot to do it......". Life Times.2016-09-02.
[3] Which cancers can be cured? How can cancer be prevented? An article tells you". People's Daily Health.2017-09-24.
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