A few months ago, I saw a domestic documentary in the Douban word-of-mouth recommended film list, called "Shengsheng".
It is the first cancer-themed documentary in China, with a total of 7 episodes, recording the stories of 16 cancer patients in the hospital.
Although this is a more restrained documentary, it is difficult not to empathize with these real people, the stories that take place in the same city, it is difficult not to empathize, it is difficult not to cry.
It's always easy to think about how to fix a similar situation for yourself or your family.
Because of my career, I have come into contact with more young people who are worried about the health of themselves and their families.
Today, I turned this film out and watched two more episodes, and my heart was once again deeply touched.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" >01 What are we running away from in the face of cancer</h1>
Cancer may be a taboo topic for the public, everyone feels that healthy and healthy talk about illness is very obscure, and sometimes do not want to take the initiative to understand the relevant knowledge.
But in China, 7.5 people become cancer patients every minute, and an average of more than 10,000 people are diagnosed every day, while cancer is gradually becoming younger, and the incidence of cancer before the age of 40 is increasing year by year.
The documentary's director, He Miao, is the son of a cancer patient who was diagnosed with cancer when he was 30 years old.
After that, He Miao lived with her father for another 10 years until his father died.
At the beginning of the illness, He Miao's father was reluctant to attend anyone's wedding. Because he thinks that he has a "terminal illness", it will bring bad omens in a festive atmosphere. Out of protection for others, he felt that he should not go.
Later, in 2016, He Miao had two very good friends who also suffered from cancer and were very young.
This also made his attention to cancer more intense, and he hopes to use his ability to help more people understand what cancer is, how to prevent it and how to care for family and friends who suffer from cancer.
Meng Fan, 16 years old, is a patient with giant cell tumor of bone
You are not exempt from being tormented by disease just because you avoid understanding it.
During the 17 months of shooting, He Miao and the team visited the oncology departments of 6 hospitals, and it took a total of two years and eight months to complete the production.
Many people left during this period, and more people continued to work the road to fight cancer, or returned to society and ordinary life.
With the improvement of treatment, cancer has now become a "chronic disease". It's not that cancer is necessarily terminal.
In the film, there is a warm-hearted and fast-talking Sister Qi, who has experienced more than 50 stages of breast cancer chemotherapy, and is still a well-known pistachio in the ward, wearing a wig and singing her favorite opera gracefully.
However, the importance of early screening for cancer and the economic loss of serious diseases are diverted, because of the mentality of avoiding medical treatment, many people do not realize it.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" >02 I was sick and reminded me to learn to self-regulate</h1>
As soon as the documentary opens, the director focuses on some young girls who are "talking to themselves".
It turned out that this was a "tree hole" in the hospital, and the patient with cancer came back to a window covered by a curtain, in this relatively private environment, expressing his repressed emotions and talking to himself.
I was particularly impressed by an older sister named Yuan Chun, who went from a small city to Beijing to study and worked in state-owned enterprises.
36 years old, already a mother of two babies, the family is happy and harmonious. However, she was diagnosed with breast cancer.
Breast cancer is one of the most common cancers in women in China, with 300,000 people diagnosed each year. But the survival rate for early breast cancer is very high.
She said in "Tree Hole" that "this disease is not a bad thing, it is the beginning of a new life", and the tone was gentle and firm. I was infected by this attitude and at the same time very distressed.
In the director's mouth, she is a very optimistic person, and she does not deliberately perform "optimism" in front of the camera. But that's what she thought herself.
In the documentary, Yuan Chun's breast cancer has a clavicle metastasis, which belongs to the middle and advanced stages.
But in the process of examination and chemotherapy, she also took care of 2 young babies, consulted chemotherapy materials, and took time to visit her comrades who had been discharged from the hospital.
In the ward, there are also patients who fight breast cancer with Yuan Chun. They all wore two small pigtails, and I thought that everyone could be happy in order to dress up uniformly and boost morale.
It turned out that this was a rule of breast surgery, in order to prevent the loose hair from contaminating the wound with bacteria and bringing infection to the wound.
Yuan Chun went to visit Kai Yu, 28 years old on the left, and Kai Yu and her husband are both medical workers. Although they were much more familiar with the disease than ordinary people, Kai Yu was still afraid to face the operation.
A colleague of hers in the obstetrics and gynecology department was diagnosed with lung cancer in her 40s and disappeared in 2 years.
She was afraid of getting bad cancer metastasis results after the operation, and she had very little time to say goodbye to people close to her.
Fortunately, she found out that it was still early in the morning, and she could already go home to recuperate in the film.
When people are seriously ill, they always think of the last bucket list, and when I see this film, I often reflect on whether I have taken good care of myself.
Have you done what you really want to do when you are healthy, treat the people we love well, or are you squandering your time and energy and ignoring the feelings of your loved ones?
Many people may feel that young is to have squandered capital.
But when I see people who have cancer in their twenties or thirties or even in their teens, I can't help but feel that life is really impermanent, and it is done and cherished.
Several girls sat together and often talked about why they got sick.
Perhaps, being sick is a reminder to take good care of ourselves.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" >03 It may be family members who work harder than patients</h1>
In the documentary, the protagonist is not only a patient, but also shows the patient's family.
Kaiyu's husband is less talkative than his lively wife in the film.
In front of the hospital camera, he has always been a set of clothes, more time is waiting with his wife, softly looking at the pictures of the children together, and even appearing that this big man is a little too well-behaved when he is with his wife.
But he was a surgeon and knew better than his wife what cancer meant.
When the wife heard that her slices had no cancer metastasis, she fell asleep on the ground. The husband sat quietly, holding her hand by the bed, for two hours.
The patient is undoubtedly painful, but with the care of the family, it is also possible to vent emotions to the family.
The test for family members is much more complicated.
It is difficult for them to vent their stress and emotions, while bearing the grief of a loved one who may be leaving, and maintaining sanity to try to arrange work, prepare for treatment expenses, and take care of their families.
What's even more torturous is that in the face of the person you love, he is so miserable that you can't do anything about it.
Qiu Yuan, a 16-year-old Yunnan boy, is not as lucky as Kaiyu. After the Spring Festival in 19 years, QiuYuan spent his happy 17th birthday in the hospital, and then went to heaven.
Qiu Yuan, 17 years old, patient with osteosarcoma
He suffered from osteosarcoma. Osteosarcoma is more common in adolescents, it will bring leg pain, easy to be confused with growth pain, resulting in parents ignoring it, so many children are found out to be late.
Qiu Yuan's parents have a very average income, and in order to treat their children, they came to Beijing from the mountains of Yunnan and rented a simple small house next to the hospital.
Qiu Yuan wanted to leave the mountain to look outside, but he didn't expect to go to the hospital as soon as he came out, and often lay in bed for half a year, he always felt very lonely, and when the pain came, he could only lie and cry.
Because her parents' Mandarin is not good, Qiuyuan often comes directly to the doctor to communicate her condition. When he learned that he could not save his leg because of an accidental fall during treatment, he broke down.
Later, Qiu Yuan's relationship with his parents became worse and worse, and he would often jump like thunder, and even have a physical collision with his parents.
The documentary crew agreed that the child had been pampered from an early age, and one member had criticized him.
He said, "You have never had this disease, so what right do you have to say about me?" ”
Poor Autumn Garden, you don't have to suffer anymore.
But in my parents' eyes, I saw more pain and wood. With their cultural level and ability, they may not be able to figure out what the child's disease is, let alone how to appease the child.
Perhaps, in order to cure the disease, how to pay off the family's debts has left them at a loss.
No one, no one of any age, can be sure that they will be able to escape the risk of serious illness in the future.
The cancer patients in the documentary include the elderly, children, and many young and middle-aged people.
Now the pace of life is very fast, everyone thinks about how to create more value, how to realize themselves, and often does not have time to think about illness or even death.
But this problem has always been there, and if we don't think about it as a lesson as soon as possible and plan the means to transfer risks, it will eventually bother us.
In the face of cancer, a possible life problem, what are you preparing?
Life is a process of continuous loss, accept impermanence, be prepared, and maybe you will become more calm.