Many people have finished their last journey in the hospital. Although the story of “no filial son in front of a long bed” is not uncommon, there are also many patients who leave with their children and grandchildren. Is it just that the care and companionship of the children comes from the filial piety to the loved ones?
A shocked comatose old man was transferred from the outer hospital to our hospital. The result of the examination was intestinal necrosis and required immediate surgery. I confirmed this fatal diagnosis from CT and also saw many shadows on the patient’s liver. There are more than a dozen family members accompanying the old man. Everyone is very concerned about the condition. Everyone has a lot of questions to ask, but I must clearly explain the reason for the operation and intestinal necrosis in a short time High mortality of this disease. At the end of explaining the condition, I mentioned the shadow on his liver.
”There are many shadows on the liver. Judging from the images, it may be a tumor. Does the elderly have a history of tumors or have they been examined?” The family looked at each other and seemed to be surprised by the unexpected discovery.
I went on to say: “Now the operation is to save lives. The problem of cancer is important, but the top priority is to solve the problem of intestinal necrosis!” The family members are still talking about it. In order to grab time, we have begun to prepare for the operation .
In addition to removing the necrotic intestine, what was seen during the operation was the same as the previous CT scan showed, and the entire liver was full of tumors. In the case where it is impossible to completely remove the tumor, I took some tissues for the pathology laboratory to confirm the shape of the tumor to decide the subsequent treatment plan.
Although the patient’s condition was very critical before the operation, a life was recovered through timely diagnosis and treatment. After the operation, the patient recovered quite smoothly, but unfortunately the test result of the liver tumor is that the cancer cells have metastasized to the far end.
So, I had a consultation with a doctor in the oncology department. I think that in the case of surgical treatment, it may still be possible to rely on chemotherapy to slow down the spread of cancer cells. However, the result of the oncologist’s assessment is that the patient’s age and physical strength are not suitable for receiving chemotherapy, and from the perspective of tumor morphology and cancer cell spread, the expected effect of chemotherapy will not be too good. Therefore, after the surgical recovery, our treatment direction turned conservative. Since curing the tumor is no longer feasible, we have to implement a plan based on the principle of not increasing the patient’s pain and improving his quality of life before death.
When the patient’s food and activities almost returned to normal, I began to arrange the patient’s discharge. My idea is very simple: since there is not much time, it is better to take advantage of what you can eat and go now, hurry home and gather with your family, and enjoy the final family happiness.
During the hospitalization, the patient’s three children often come to visit, and they must be personally involved in the various nursing tasks of the old gentleman. Each visit always brings various snacks and supplements. I envy him for having three filial children.
I thought the children would be happy for their father’s discharge, and they would be happy to take their father out of the hospital, but they did not expect that the result of their consultation was to send their father to a nursing home.
I once met the younger son of the patient during a round, and I sincerely told him: “Due to your father’s current health condition, it probably won’t last long. I suggest you pick him up early and get along with him a little more. Time. ”
” We know that it’s already arranged! I found a nursing home in Nantou with a nice view and will pick him up when I’m ready! ”
Since the family said that, I certainly respect his decision. Only this time, another week passed, the family of the patient still didn’t seem to want the patient to be discharged.
A few days later, I met the patient’s daughter, and I said the same thing again.
”Doctor, I know your kindness, and I would also like to take my father back to live. It’s just that my brother-in-law and my brother have a lot of opinions …” Seeing her face is so embarrassing, I’m embarrassed to pursue.
Day after day, the old man still lives in the ward. Until one morning outpatient time, the patient’s elder son and daughter-in-law suddenly came to the clinic. “We decided to take my father home today! Could you please help my father to go through the discharge procedures, we have to leave as soon as possible!”
Their attitude made me quite puzzled, why he refused to leave the hospital before, and suddenly changed his mind today, and Come quickly and urgently? But for the convenience of the family, I still asked the assistant to help them through the formalities.
In the afternoon that day, I went to the ward to check the room according to the usual practice. I thought they had left the hospital, but found that the patient’s name was still on the inpatient list.
”Aren’t they in a hurry to be discharged? Why haven’t you left yet?”
”I helped them go through discharge procedures according to your instructions, but it didn’t take long for the other son to rush to the hospital and have a big fight with his brother in the ward, then I can’t say to leave the hospital. “The assistant’s statement surprised me quite a bit, but as an outsider, there was no room for us to comment on the whole matter.
In this way, the patient stayed again. This is a patient who is lying on the bed with all his limbs and does not need to take medicine or injections. He is also a lonely elderly person who is in advanced stage of cancer and has few days to live well and needs his family to accompany him before his death.
Discharge from the hospital became a distant event. Every time I met the patient’s child, I always couldn’t get a positive response and a positive answer.
One afternoon, the patient’s daughter came to the hospital alone and offered to help her father go through discharge procedures. I asked her half-jokingly: “Finally, you decided to take your father where to stay? Wouldn’t this be a temporary change?”
She sighed and told me the whole story: “It’s really a decision not to leave the hospital , We felt embarrassed when we changed the last temporary decision. Because everyone wants to pick up their father to live in their own home, but the location has never been decided. ”
” That’s great! Your father can have the three of you Such a filial child, he should be very pleased! ”
In the hospital, I have seen too many seriously ill parents being blamed by their children as hot potatoes, so their previous performance made me think this is the case again. . But at this time, her answer made me think this old gentleman was really lucky.
”I said from the beginning that I had to take care of my father ’s last journey, but my father had a few pieces of land and some deposits … so my brother and brother kept guarding me and thought I wanted to deceive my father ’s money, so I was never allowed to take my father back to live at my house.
”The last time my brother-in-law and sister-in-law came to discharge the hospital, it was for these land and deposits. They wanted to hide their father on the hill of Xizhi, so as not to give us a chance to get close, but it was discovered by my brother that it didn’t succeed.
”Actually, my brother is going to take his father to live in Nantou, and the same idea …”
Her answer made me feel disappointed and frightened by the darkness of human nature.
”Then how can you do the discharge yourself today? Your brother has no opinion?” According to her, it was inferred that it would be impossible to suddenly kill other family members who had objections.
”Their car is waiting downstairs, just to make sure that I will send my father home. The lawyer will come later, and when my father is still awake, all the procedures for transferring property and land property rights will be completed. Send him to a nursing home. ”
I have almost foreseen that there is no money, no land, and the elderly with advanced cancer who have lost their use value, and finally live in a nursing home.
Behind the filial son Sun Xiaoshun may also have ulterior motives. The doctor’s job made me see too much humanity by the bed.