Oncology and life

I've moved on from Palliative Care into a different, albeit related, field - Oncology (otherwise known as Cancer Medicine). It's quite a sobering specialty, and in many respects, is even more depressing than Palliative Care. Most of the patients we saw in PCU knew that they didn't have much time left, and had accepted that fact. In Oncology, the diagnosis was generally a lot more recent, and the emotions were a lot more raw.

Being on the same ward as PCU, I was kind of able to keep up with some of the patients that I saw earlier. This meant I was around on the ward when one of the patients I had met earlier in PCU unfortunately passed away. This kind of experience really makes you realise how lucky we are (most of us) to be healthy and be able to go and do the things we like. For this patient in particular, they had cancer at a very young age and had to deal with the ramifications of the disease for their entire life. At the end of the day, when I leave the hospital, I can go and play soccer, or go out with friends and leave those problems behind. For my patients, they stay in hospital, with their cancer and chemotherapy and have to live with the realisation that their clock is counting down.

Tags: Medical

Palliative Care

I was a bit nervous at the start of this week. This week was the devoted 'Palliative Care Week' - for the entire week, I was assigned to the Palliative Care team at SCGH. Now Palliative Care is (for those who don't know) the care of those patients who are getting towards the end of their lives. These patients are suffering from diseases that are incurable and are not being treated with a curative intent.

So I followed the team around, learnt about what they did, learnt about analgesia regimes etc. My head was full of doubts. How do I talk to someone who knows they are going to die in a matter of weeks? How do I bring up the subject of death? How can I provide reassurance to them when both of us know that there is NO HOPE for the future? What kind of doctor wants to deal with patients that never get better? Knowing next to nothing about Palliative Care (other than that it was for people who were going to die), you can imagine I was a little tentative about the whole thing.

All of my fears were unfulfilled as I discovered that Palliative Care is one of the most wonderful specialties that exists. The people who work in the area are, by nature, totally understanding and helpful to everyone (including students ;) ). The patients are wonderful - having accepted death, most of them are starting to get onto the important things in life - repairing old relationship rifts, sorting out their affairs, getting wills organised, spending quality time with loved ones. They are inspiring in the way they stare the abyss in the face and still are determined to make every minute on earth count. I learnt a lot about life from them.

Tags: Medical

Lily Allen

I was listening to the radio the other day and heard this girl singing a song which mentioned 'Tesco', which she then rhymed with 'al fresco'. Brilliant, I thought! I need to download this track and have a proper listen.

But that wasn't it - the song sent on to describe London with all its characters, slappers, old ladies, pimps. I know this sounds sad, but having recently come back from the UK I felt a funny connection to the lyrics.

Anyway, she's my new favourite artist. Lily Allen (of Islington no less), hailed as the cover girl of the myspace generation and the new Mike Skinner. Listen to LDN on her website, it's a cracker of a song.



Tags: Music