Faced with a family member with terminal cancer, will you choose to stick with it or give up? Some time ago, a reader sent a private message to Xiaojiu expressing the dilemma she encountered.
5 years ago, my mother found out ovarian cancer, then had radical ovarian cancer resection, but it recurred after 2 years, then 6 times chemotherapy, then 6 months later, then 9 more chemotherapy, and it was found to be recurring not long ago.
The doctor suggested that we try radiotherapy, but he was not sure of the specific effect, and may only barely maintain life. Over the years, our family has spent all our savings to treat my mother's illness, and my father and I owe a bunch of loans. My younger brother was admitted to a book this year, but in order to treat his mother, he planned to give up college and go to Guangdong with his uncle to find a job.
Although I should not have thought of it this way, I could not do anything about asking myself, and my life was forced to a dead end. I just wanted to ask, if my mother agrees to give up treatment, should I follow this choice?
After reading the private message, Xiaojiu's heart is heavy, and similar problems appear more and more frequently, if it is you, how will you answer it?
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="7" > first, whether treatment is still necessary for advanced cancer</h1>
What cancer patients and their families are most afraid of hearing is the word "advanced", which in many people's cognition is equivalent to a death sentence. Advanced cancer may mean that the cancer cells have spread and metastasized, may mean that continued treatment can only survive, may mean that it costs more money, may mean more painful torture...
Whether it is still necessary to treat advanced cancer depends on 3 aspects, which is very realistic.
The first aspect is whether there is money or not.
Poverty limits not only our imagination, but also our lives. The same cancer patients, rich people can choose better hospitals, more professional doctors and more advanced treatment, the chances of cure are also greater. Those who have no money have to give up even if the expected treatment effect is good, let alone the terminal cancer.
The second aspect is whether it can be cured.
Some cancers reach an advanced stage, and even if they use more money to treat them, they will not be able to get back to surgery. But there are also some cancers that may be cured even in advanced stages, such as lymphoma and testicular cancer. Not to mention that the medical level is improving, new drugs are constantly being developed, common breast cancer, lung cancer and other high-incidence cancers, even in the advanced stage, through comprehensive treatment may also achieve long-term tumor survival.
The third aspect is the attitude towards death.
Different people have different attitudes towards death, some patients have a more calm mentality, some are looking down, but hope that they will not be tortured by treatment anymore, so they choose to give up treatment, calmly walk through the last days, and leave with dignity. Some patients believe that life is only once, as long as there is a glimmer of hope will do their best to survive, so they go around seeking medical treatments and trying various different treatments, and may eventually achieve a long survival period, or they may be exhausted and their lives will be exhausted.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="7" >2. What does the patient experience before dying? </h1>
Life has a beginning and an end, every day people are born, and every day people die. For patients with advanced cancer, being able to die peacefully is a beautiful end. In real life, however, it is more common for cancer patients to overtreat or undertreat in their final days and not be relieved until the last moment of leaving.
The so-called dying does not mean a few minutes or hours before death. In general, the patient's end-time is as long as 10-14 days, sometimes as short as 24 hours. Patients will have a series of signs before dying, if they can be found in time, they can do their best to help patients alleviate pain and let life come to an end comfortably and quietly.
Before the patient's death, the following 4 major signs usually appear:
1. Fever
There are many causes of fever throughout the body, such as functional fever, bacterial or viral infections, etc.
2. Pain
Pain is a common sign of dying, especially in patients with advanced cancer, when the tumor destroys and infiltrates normal tissue, it compresses adjacent nerve roots, hinders blood flow, infiltrates the bone and periosteum, and causes severe pain.
3. Dying throat ringing
Before the patient dies, the throat will make a throat sound, as if he wants to speak but cannot speak. This is because the physical strength gradually fails, the secretions accumulate in the throat or trachea, can not be removed, and the air flow passes through the secretions during breathing, causing vibrations and throat sounds.
4. Fluid accumulation in the cavity
Intraluminal effusion is an important complication of malignant tumors such as lung cancer, breast cancer, ovarian cancer and malignant lymphoma, mainly occurring in the chest and abdomen, peritoneal cavity, pericardial cavity and other parts, a large amount of intraluminal fluid will compress the lungs, reduce lung volume, resulting in dyspnea and lung infection.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="7" >3, what should we do when our family is seriously ill and wants to give up treatment? </h1>
When the patient reaches the advanced stage of cancer, a series of treatments are ineffective, the body can not withstand further treatment, and can only barely maintain life, if the family wants to give up treatment, is it a sign of filial piety or no humanitarianism?
In fact, our country is deeply influenced by traditional concepts, the lack of death education, many people are reluctant to give up treatment when their families are unable to treat, on the one hand, for fear of carrying immoral charges, on the other hand, out of fear of death. Therefore, we need to promote hospice care even more. Hospice care refers to medical care that alleviates the symptoms of the disease, delays the progression of the disease, and ensures the quality of life of the patient in the weeks or even months before the patient's death.
Hospice care is not about giving up treatment, and giving up treatment is not filial piety. The purpose of hospice care is to alleviate the physical and mental suffering of patients who have no further therapeutic significance, so that they can live a more quality life for the rest of their lives and not die without dignity. At the same time, hospice care can also allow families to adapt to the fact that their loved ones have left as soon as possible, reducing the pain and stress caused by the death of relatives.
It takes courage to live, and it takes courage to die. Death is everyone's terminal, and for patients with terminal cancer who have lost their therapeutic significance, we should perhaps have a calm attitude and let them live a decent and dignified life in the last days of their lives.
#Breeze Project##39 Health Super Energy Group ##谣零零计划 #
Resources
[1] If the cancer is advanced, is it treated or waiting for death? Doctors tell the big truth!.Medical Forum Network . 2019-03-10
[2] What is the process of dying?.Medical Rheumatism and Kidney Disease Channel . 2016-09-07
[3] Pre-dying signs of advanced cancer . E Tumor Global .2016-07-21
Reproduction without the author's permission is prohibited