Is it necessary to go bankrupt for advanced cancer treatment？ The big truth told by the doctor

"Doctor, please be kind and let me be euthanized!"

This is the most pleading I have heard from terminal patients in my years as a doctor. As normal people, we can’t feel the pain of patients in the late stage, let alone imagine the misery and agony of cancer in the late stage.

This kind of pain does not only come from physical pain, because the pain can be alleviated, but the unknown fear can never be alleviated.

For example, terminal patients know that their time is running out, but they still have many worries and unfinished wishes. For another example, the terminal patient doesn’t know how his death came, or does it hurt? Or did you hold your breath and die of suffocation?

Although we are afraid of death, we have to accept the fact that all life will eventually die. Perhaps this is life. We should learn to accept the arrival of strangers and accept that familiar people will leave us forever.

01.

I want to tell the story of Mr. Ba Jin first. As a doctor, I like Mr. Ba Jin’s works very much. But I can’t bear to read his story.

It was in 1999 that Ba Jin was admitted to the hospital because of a serious illness.

After the rescue, he saved his life, but his life plummeted from then on. He has a stomach tube inserted in his nose, and he can only eat through the stomach tube, and he has to enter his stomach six times a day.

Imagine how painful it is for a tube to go straight from nose to stomach.

More painful in the back, because of the long-term intubation, his mouth could not be closed and his chin was dislocated.

Later, we can only cut the trachea and maintain breathing through a ventilator.

As a party, Ba Jin has no quality of life, and his physical torture is even more painful. It’s not that he didn’t think about giving up treatment, but he didn’t have the right to choose because all his family members and leaders didn’t agree with him to give up treatment.

Coma, inability to take care of yourself, inability to eat, as long as the heartbeat is still there.

I still remember Mr. Ba Jin’s words: "Longevity is my greatest torture!"

02.

Cancer or other diseases, what patients and their families are most afraid of hearing is "advanced stage". In our cognition, the late stage is equivalent to being sentenced to death.

There is a saying that "it is better to die than to live", and everyone knows what it means. It is precisely because of this concept that many of us lack a correct understanding of death.

So that in the end, we ignored the consideration of the patient’s feelings and regarded "trying our best to rescue" as a manifestation of "filial piety".

So, plug in the ventilator, use nutrient solution, and find a care worker … tens of thousands of dollars, all spent at once.

This is the status quo of many sick families. Not only did they spend all their savings in the first half of their lives at the end of their lives, but they also suffered all kinds of pains, and eventually they left this world with nothing.

What many people don’t know is that whether it is necessary to treat terminally ill or terminal cancer depends entirely on the following aspects.

1. Do you have any money?

Poverty limits not only imagination, but also life. Imagine, who is also a cancer patient, a rich family or a poor family, who has a better chance of survival?

Second, can it be cured?

In fact, advanced cancer doesn’t mean death. Some cancers really don’t need treatment, but some cancers still have great hope, such as lymphoma and testicular cancer. There are also some common cancers, such as lung cancer and breast cancer. Even if they are advanced, with the increasingly advanced medical technology, we can achieve long-term survival with tumors.

Third, the attitude towards death

Everyone has a different attitude towards death. Some people are afraid of death, so even if they suffer all kinds of pains, they should try their best to live. Some people are more calm. They may pursue the quality of life more than the length of life. What they want is to leave with dignity.

03.

There is a word called Futile Treatment, which means ineffective treatment.

Ineffective treatment means that when people’s life is about to end, all external technical means are used to intervene in life. The most common ones in hospitals are to cut the throat, insert a ventilator, inject cardiotonic needles and adrenaline, and constantly infuse drugs.

As a doctor, I personally feel that this is not saving lives, but demeaning the dignity of a living individual.

Then, when doctors have cancer themselves, how should they choose?

Mu Yourui, an associate professor at the University of Southern California, published an article entitled "How do doctors choose to leave the world?" in 2011. -Not like us ordinary people, but that’s the way we should choose! "The article.

This article caused a great sensation in America.

In the article, Charlie is a very famous doctor, and suddenly one day he finds himself suffering from the most troublesome pancreatic cancer.

Charlie found an expert who can triple the 5-year survival rate of pancreatic cancer patients. However, treatment also comes at a price, that is, patients may lose a large part of their quality of life in this process.

On second thought, Charlie refused the operation and all the treatments. After returning home, Charlie put down his career and devoted all his thoughts and time to enjoying his last time with his family.

Charlie didn’t have chemotherapy or radiotherapy. For Charlie, the length and width of life, he chose the width.

"In the dying patient, a knife is opened here, a knife is opened there, and various tubes are inserted in the body, which is hung on the life-sustaining machine …"

Mu Yurui said that this is a means that will not even be used to punish terrorists.

In the United States, many seriously ill doctors hang "Don’t save" signs around their necks. At the last moment of life, they often choose the quality of life collectively.

Because doctors can better understand that "being alive" has no meaning except pain!

04.

Think of a story, this is an 80-year-old man who was admitted to hospital because of cerebral hemorrhage.

After four hours of rescue, the old man finally survived. However, the trachea was cut and a hole was made in the throat.

The old man is sometimes in a coma and sometimes awake. Every time he wakes up, the old man is very painful.

The old man’s family took turns to take care of him, and whenever they saw a change in the monitor, they would immediately go to the doctor.

Later, the old man’s condition began to deteriorate and his body became swollen. The head is like a balloon, and the airway is still bleeding.

At this time, the only thing that can be done is to constantly clean the airway for the elderly, and almost every time a tube of blood clots and secretions will be cleaned up.

Being able to clearly feel the pain of the old man, the doctor couldn’t help it: "Drag on or give up?"

The family members persisted, even though they could no longer look straight at the painful old man.

This lasted for more than ten days, and the old man still left.

On the day of leaving, the old man’s skin color became translucent. There is no complete skin on the body, and needle holes and intubation can be seen everywhere. The head is even more swollen, and the five senses become extremely distorted.

Dare to ask, if the old man can express himself, is he really willing to take these ten days?

In this remaining time, he did not enjoy any right to life. What is the meaning of life?

Let him live so painfully for ten more days, can you really prove that you love him very much? Is love so superficial?

Finally, I hope each of us can learn to respect death. Because we have come to this world in tears, and finally we just want to leave with dignity.

Original title: "Is it necessary to go bankrupt for advanced cancer treatment? The big truth told by the doctor may subvert your cognition! 》

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