Patient and His Family

He was one of my first oncology patients when I was a brand-new attending physician. Let us call him Adam. Adam was in his 50s, a former smoker, and had significant back pain. He was scheduled to have back surgery. Pre-surgical testing revealed a lung mass on the chest X-ray. That indefinitely postponed his back surgery, and prompted a series of evaluation. He was diagnosed with lung cancer and was referred to see me for further evaluation and management.

I still remember the first day I met Adam and his wife during his initial consultation visit. As he had stage III lung cancer, the treatment plan was chemotherapy, followed by surgery. He tolerated the treatment well and had decent response to therapy.

A couple years later, he was found to have stage IV disease. He underwent various systemic treatment regimens like a trooper. It was almost 5 years since his initial cancer diagnosis when his clinical status started to deteriorate. He started to have more symptoms from treatment, more fatigue, and weight loss. All that time he always brought a positive attitude with him. He never complained about his life or questioned why things happened. He put his utmost trust in me to provide him with the best of care. We had more and more discussions during our visits, about his short term and long-term goals. It was to the point of discussing palliative treatment for symptom relief. His wife started to come to all his visits, and sometimes with his daughter too.

Adam continued to decline in health. He passed away at home peacefully. I called his wife and expressed my condolences. She thanked me for all the care. We started to talk about Adam, about his personality, his positivity, his diligence, and his love for the family. Then his wife mentioned that one of her most memorable encounters was our first meeting. She said that I sat down, looked them in the eyes, and explained in detail about everything. She felt that I was unhurried and had all the time in the world to take care of Adam.

Over the years we (Adam, his wife and I) developed a close bond. We had mutual understanding of many things. I did my best to tailor treatment to his needs.

It was a natural habit for me to sit down to discuss with patients about their cancer diagnosis. I didn’t think too much of it because I always knew that this type of discussion was not a 30-second spiel. Patients and their families do pay attention to everything we do, both scientifically with clinical management and personally as a human being. I always want to offer my utmost attention to my patients and their families. I want them to know that they are being treated as human beings and not as “cases”. The human-to-human interaction is what makes patient care meaningful and fulfilling. Of course, there are times with challenging interactions, as no one is perfect. I take those as learning experiences, which will further improve my existence as a personable oncologist, ready to help patients physically and emotionally.