"I've operated on so many people in my life, and I never thought it would be so painful after the operation, and I can't imagine how they managed to persevere."
The person who said this sentence is Hua Yiwei, who has been a doctor for 56 years and has treated countless people.
Hua Yiwei is one of the first batch of 8-year medical graduates in China, a famous surgical expert, and the 2006 "Moving China" Person of the Year. After retirement, Hua Yiwei did not stop, but chose to continue to serve the people, accumulating more than 100 surgeries for patients every year.
But who would have thought that countless patients were saved, but Hua Yiwei fell ill.
After being diagnosed with stomach cancer, Hua Yiwei became a patient on the operating table and finally realized what the significance of surgical treatment is for patients. At the last moment of life, leave a deep impression.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="42" >, surgery, chemotherapy... The pain that ensued</h1>
In July 2005, Hua Yiwei suddenly had gastrointestinal problems, and after the examination, he gave himself a diagnosis: advanced gastric cancer.
After the diagnosis of advanced gastric cancer was diagnosed, Hua Yiwei actively cooperated with the treatment and first underwent a total gastric resection. After the operation, because there was no cardia, Hua Yiwei frequently had symptoms such as reflux and heartburn, so serious that he could only lie half-lying at night and could not lie flat.
In order to inhibit the further spread and metastasis of cancer cells, Hua Yiwei began chemotherapy again. But he didn't expect that the process of chemotherapy would be so painful. After each chemotherapy, Hua Yiwei's abdomen was cramped, and even the pain caused him to turn over in the hospital bed, and he could only rely on taking painkillers to relieve the pain. Chemotherapy was given 8 times a week, 8 times a month, and he had no time to breathe at all.
I thought that my condition would improve after chemotherapy, but Hua Yiwei's situation was more serious, not only could not eat, but also appeared ileal obstruction of the end of the ileum, the situation was so bad that the nasal feeding nutrient solution could not go in, there was no stool at all, and the liver, kidney and other functions were also damaged.
In order to relieve the intestinal obstruction, the doctor had to give Hua Yiwei a second operation. However, Hua Yiwei's condition worsened after the operation. Lying on the hospital bed, he was full of tubes, and his body tended to fail.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="41" > second, the last of life, leave a deep impression</h1>
During his hospitalization, Hua Yiwei would cough up blood or vomit blood from time to time. Once, he suddenly coughed violently, spurted blood from his mouth, and suddenly stained the sheets red, and everyone around him was startled, but he gently and calmly comforted others: "It's okay, don't be afraid." ”
On the occasion of his death, Hua Yiwei talked to people around him about his post-cancer treatment experience, saying that he "never expected patients to experience such great pain."
For gastric cancer patients, a complete gastric resection is equivalent to spending the rest of their lives in pain. But if you only cut it in half, you may be able to live happily for a year, even if you have a little stomach, it is better than cutting it all. Since then, Hua Yiwei has been a patient, standing in the patient's perspective and considering practical problems for the patient. He believes that as a doctor, you must learn to choose between eliminating diseases and improving the quality of life of patients.
"We are doctors, can not simply treat the disease", the treatment results should maximize the interests of patients, to make patients more comfortable and comfortable to live, rather than mechanical one-size-fits-all, to increase unnecessary pain to patients.
At 4:00 a.m. on August 12, 2006, Hua Yiwei's condition deteriorated; at 6:00 p.m., he passed away.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="40" >3. Surgery in advanced cancer is a torture? </h1>
Is it really painful for patients with advanced cancer to have surgery? Hua Yiwei's experience gives us a clear answer.
First of all, for patients with advanced cancer who have little hope of cure, surgery has little significance, only increased pain. Any surgery carries a certain risk, not to mention patients with advanced cancer, during and after surgery, they are more likely to have trauma and complications, and the body is difficult to bear.
Secondly, in addition to physical torture, patients with advanced cancer also have to experience complex psychological changes, fear, anxiety, pessimism, disappointment, depression, and even easy to have the idea of taking a life, resulting in the disease "worse".
Finally, we can not ignore the patient's own will, if the patient's own desire to survive is very low, unwilling to operate, but forced to move the knife, the effect will only be counterproductive, forced to operate in vain.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="23" >4. Is it painful to have advanced cancer? </h1>
The pain of advanced cancer also includes cancer pain that is easily overlooked. Cancer pain is a full range of pain caused by the cancer itself or its related diseases, which seriously affects the physiology and psychology of patients.
The pain can be divided into 10 grades, and some people say that the pain of female childbirth is 10 levels of pain, but this may be a bit exaggerated. The pain that really reaches or approaches level 10 is none other than cancer pain.
A terminal cancer patient once described cancer pain this way: "There is no way to describe it in words, that feeling is like the whole body being cut by a knife, bitten by insects, day and night, endless pain, as soon as the pain arises, there are countless light thoughts flashing in the mind, it is really too painful, do not want to live." ”
Pain can be divided into nociceptive pain and neuropathic pain. Nociceptive pain presents as knife-cut, pulsatile, compression-like pain, and neuropathic pain as burning, sharp, or electric shock-like pain. Two kinds of pain can coexist, and you can imagine how painful the cancer pain really is.
If the patient has cancer pain, do not tolerate it, but should be targeted treatment, otherwise it will seriously reduce the quality of life. At present, the main treatment for cancer pain is drug therapy, which can be administered orally, on time, or according to the "three-tier principle" proposed by WHO, the most commonly used of which is opioid analgesics.
In fact, the ultimate goal of cancer treatment is not necessarily to eliminate cancer, but to improve the quality of life, prolong survival, and achieve tumor-bearing survival. Hua Yiwei's experience tells us that the quality of life of patients is more worthy of our attention.
Resources:
[1] Fatally "cancer pain", how should cancer patients choose the right treatment? .Medical Oncology Channel.2018-08-26
[2] Hua Yi comforted the last days of his life. Health Times.2006-11-27
[3] With advanced cancer, is there still a need for surgery? You need to understand these....Cancer Rehabilitation and Palliative Care in China. 2020-04-29
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