We just learned that our friends' brother, a young man with young children has gone into hospital for pain management and now they have put him under palliative care. This does not sound good. He has pancreatic cancer. The doctors' prognosis was 6 months and he has passed a year.
We saw and witnessed a friend who was in palliative care for just over a month in Jan last year. A person goes under palliative care when the body system is in constant pain and the organs start to malfunction or stop working... it literally shuts down. The doctors won't let the patients have food, maybe just a little liquid. P said it's almost like starving to death... but that's the way when the digestive system could not process the intake. Also not to prolong the agony, feeding the cancer and not nourishing the body. I thought it was heartless to withhold food when the person is hungry.
I really wonder if he knew this is what's in store when he checked in for pain management and instead the doctors are putting him under palliative care! the last I saw him, he still look strong.
I also think that if it is at all possible to have palliative care in a home set -up. If it takes about a month or there about for the body to slowly shut down, won't it be better to die at home. We really cannot stop the deterioration of the physical body. The question is how to get to the final end in a quiet and peaceful surrounding with your loved ones.
1 comment:
Yes, it is possible to have palliative care at home. On a UK website I found this comment:
"One option is for intensive co-ordinated home support for patients with complex needs who wish to stay at home.
This may involve the specialist palliative care service providing specialist advice alongside the patient’s own doctor and district nurse to enable someone to stay in their own home.
Many teams also now provide extended specialist palliative nursing, medical, social and emotional support and care in the patient’s home, often known as ‘hospice at home’."
I don't think that 'palliative care' excludes providing nourishment and that it simply depends on the ability of the patient's body to receive it and by what means.
I also have come to understand that palliative care is something that may be introduced into the patient's life long before death is imminent, to provide relief from pain or other discomforts so that patient can go on living.
Thank you for bringing up this issue, Li Leng, and I am sorry to hear that your friend has pancreatic cancer.
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