Palliative Care

I was reading this newspaper insert from a local English paper and the cover touched a deep emotional side of my heart when it reminded me so much of my dad when he was ill and conscious in between. His hand covering his face as if he was in deep thought or simply resting, his worn out face and his shaven head. Everything was down to a pat except the attire. The article touched on a topic which I had never heard before until the final days of my dad when the doctor uttered the word 'palliative care'. I did not give up on my father even though many times the doctors kept telling me his health was deteriorating. Even when all means of helping him came to a dead end, the doctor suggested giving him palliative care which I thought was an extension of the medical treatment they had been giving to him. Rather, as I did my research combined with bits and pieces of facts the doctors told me, I realised it was about giving comfort to the patient by giving him morphines to lessen his suffering and making sure he was being taken good care of by the nurses.

They did just that although it lasted for a mere night and day until he gave out his last breath. Even when he was not conscious anymore and down to his last few breaths, they still treated him like a normal patient until even when he had already passed, they were not aware of it.

As I continued reading the articles, I actually know how the families of the patients being given palliative care felt and how every single day of survival meant a lot to them. It was also disheartening to see the once healthy person they were used to seeing and who could perform day to day activities and even more despite being stricken with a fatal disease, slowly being reduced to being bedridden and dependent on others.

People think that palliative care is akin to telling them that the patient is as good as dying and there is no hope for recovery. But those who administer palliative care to these patients want to educate to people that we should make these patients be as comfortable as they can by minimizing their pain and suffering. Another aspect of caring for these patients is also through emotional support by making them accept the fact that dying is a natural process we all go through and during these time, family members should spend as much time as they can with the patients because nobody wants to die lonely and unloved.

It's a really really hard position to be in especially when you see your loved one slowly losing their battle to their illness. But we have to accept that death is inevitable and there is no other way to go about it except to let them go in peace. Religious views aside, I've always wondered what happen to you when you die. Do you still linger around the people who are still alive but not being able to communicate with them or you go to a place so beautiful and so different from life on earth where you no longer feel the pain and suffering back then when you were a mortal.

I have no answers to these. When my time is up, maybe I would know. I've always thought it would be better for me to die in my sleep instead of getting a major disease and my family has to look after me. There is no way in predicting how I will die because life itself is unpredictable. A man can be very successful in life climbing the corporate ladders and back home, he is a good father and husband. But one day, life dealt him with a heavy blow and he becomes cancer stricken putting and end to his career move and changes him from a highly independent and successful person to one who is dependent on his family to even move around.

We shouldnt contemplate too further on this but I just want to share with you the meaning of palliative care and how this show of care and concern for the terminally ill patients is for the better of it and not to welcome death prematurely. Until then, I yearn to live my life to the fullest each day while at the same time, be thankful that I get to live to see the next day and the subsequent days. There are people out there who are fighting for their lives so let's all learn to be thankful to be alive and to be hopeful if things dont go as planned or we are going through difficult times. We dont need to live a luxurious lifestyle because eventually happiness cant be bought and we are responsible for our own happiness.