Misdiagnosis of Yu Huanshui: What kind of experience is it to get cancer?

Many people have watched the recently hit TV series I am Yu Huanshui. As a middle-aged social animal, Yu Huanshui failed in work and marriage, was misdiagnosed as pancreatic cancer, and with a fearless attitude, made a series of things and finally became everyone's hero. I remember deeply the moment when Yu Huanshui knew he was in the late stage of pancreatic cancer, his expression, his eyes, and when his family didn't believe his illness, I could hear his world collapse. Cancer cells that you can't see are devouring your life a little bit. This feeling of despair is a feeling that many cancer patients are used to.

I think it is very true that Yu Huanshui knows his psychological state after he got cancer. Helpless, desperate, and lonely, he recalled his life with nothing to do, and wanted to be crazy before he died. So he signed a contract in the underground organization to sell his cornea, took a sum of money, bought a suit, made his hair, wore sunglasses, packaged himself as a hipster, and got drunk in a bar. There, he met a hospice care organization and listed more than 1 dying wishes, including going abroad to watch football matches, climbing snow-capped mountains, bungee jumping and even having dinner with Yao Chen. After laughing, I will also remember, what are the experiences of those patients who really have cancer? In my few hospital lives, I will tell the stories I saw and heard.

Leukemia

"I don't know when I will die"

I remember when I was a child, as long as someone got cancer in TV series, it was definitely leukemia, so that before I went to college, I thought leukemia was incurable and terrible, and people would faint and die in a short time. Later, in the hospital, in the department of hematology, I learned about hematological tumors and met many patients before I got a new understanding.

There are many types of leukemia, some of which are more common in children and some in adults. Most patients have lost hope for life in repeated chemotherapy, infection, bleeding and anemia after repeated chemotherapy. After remission of chemotherapy, some people relapse again, and their condition is even more dangerous. After repeated drug treatment, many hairs will be lost, and people will be as thin as 8 kg, with bruises on their arms and no good blood vessels to inject. When you can't eat during chemotherapy, you will feel sick and vomit, and you need infusion to maintain the supply of energy. For some people, the only hope is to do hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, which is often heard as bone marrow transplantation. But the cost is too high, and it is not easy to find a suitable donor. Many people are desperate in repeated chemotherapy, and their eyes are lifeless. They are all eager to live, but the tumor cells in the blood take away too many people's hopes. I have seen many bald children wearing cute hats. Because they lost all their hair because of chemotherapy, they shared the same cartoon in a ward and agreed where to go when they grew up.

I don't know how many of these wishes can be realized.

I remember once giving a 5-year-old male patient a bone marrow puncture. Everyone who has done it knows that it hurts, especially when taking bone marrow. I saw that he was sweating profusely, and I was sweating profusely myself. I asked him if he was in pain. He said, yes, but the pain will be endured. Just wear it.

I can't help this small black man. I can't stop the spread of cancer cells in his body. What I can do is to move quickly when puncturing to reduce his pain. It's been so long, I wonder if he is still alive.

pancreatic cancer

The cancer that Yu Huanshui was misdiagnosed is pancreatic cancer. What cancer is pancreatic cancer? Do you remember Steve Jobs, the father of Apple? The changes that Jobs brought to Apple's mobile phones and smart phones are immeasurable. God also wanted to use mobile phones, so he took Jobs away with pancreatic cancer.

From early stage to late stage, from discovery to death, pancreatic cancer has made rapid progress in just a few months. At present, there is no good treatment in medical field. Although I am a medical system, I have seen a golden-yellow mother-in-law in the gastroenterology department, saying that biliary obstruction caused jaundice. I looked at the medical record and then at her ERCP biopsy report, pancreatic cancer. This 8-year-old mother-in-law looks tough and talkative besides being golden. She asked me, what is wrong with her? Her daughter gave me a color. I said that the biliary tract was blocked, so just put a catheter stent. My mother-in-law smiled reassuringly and bragged with other patients. Her two daughters dragged me outside the ward, saying that they didn't want to tell them that their mother was a tumor, and they didn't want to treat the tumor. Just remove the biliary obstruction. They want to minimize their mother's pain in their last days. I understand, and I promised them to keep it a secret.

Later, this mother-in-law installed a stent, and the stent was blocked again, and she had repeated biliary tract infections and was transferred to ICU. Fortunately, my mother-in-law's infection was controlled and she was transferred out of the ICU. Maybe in ICU, my mother-in-law knows her illness, or maybe she doesn't. She never asked me if I could be cured, but always asked me how long it would take me to leave the hospital. On the day she was discharged from the hospital, her daughter dragged me to the stairwell and mysteriously stuffed me with something, a small box of Ferrero chocolates. She said, I am very grateful for my care these days. I know that I can't send a red envelope, so I will send something to eat. I'm sorry, but I just did what I had to do. My mother-in-law is in a wheelchair, holding my hand and saying that her home is in Ya 'an, Sichuan, and I have the opportunity to see her. The fish there is delicious. Her two daughters looked at me with red eyes. I said, ok, I will definitely go.

after two years, I still haven't had a chance to go to Ya 'an. I know that everyone has the right to choose, whether it is life or death. What we can do in the face of them is to be comforted and respected to the greatest extent.

breast cancer

breast cancer is the beginning of a nightmare for women.

"I know I won't die for a while, but I'm as good as dead now."

I learned in the textbook that the treatment of breast cancer has undergone tremendous changes. From the initial total mastectomy+lymph node dissection to the current oral targeted drug treatment, sometimes the breasts can be preserved, which is already fortunate. The five-year survival rate of these patients is relatively high, so we can still meet many patients who have undergone total mastectomy and come to the hospital for review.

I met many such women when I was in the ECG room. They lifted their coats very well, and when I was unprepared, I saw a wide and long scar on their chest and a flat chest. I can't forget the shocking mood when I first gave such a patient an electrocardiogram. They may be used to a little doctor like me, showing a surprised expression. Later, I calmed down a little, and sometimes I talked to them about when I got breast cancer and when I had surgery. They would say, three years, four years. I asked carefully, now plastic surgery department, can do breast reconstruction, is it possible to do artificial breast. Most of them just laughed and said, they are all like this ghost, just alive, and they still want these. Many female patients, are a person to review, a person to lose chemotherapy drugs, lose drugs, a person to go back. Perhaps their families are no longer happy, and they also think that they are already incomplete and physically incomplete, which can really destroy many people.

perhaps in our opinion, living is the best result. But in their view, this kind of living is very painful and painful. Even if the current medical level can make up for the physical disability, there is no way to make up for their psychological pain.

what kind of experience is it to have cancer? I don't know, because I really can't empathize. I may know something, because I have witnessed a life from fresh to pale. They are passers-by in my life, and I am just a passer-by in their life. Watching life die, let me understand the fragility of life. Those people who are struggling to survive under the torture of cancer let me know that life is strong.

If there are such people around you, think about Yu Huanshui's helplessness. What we can do is to spend more time with them. Companionship is often a good medicine, which can heal the traumatized mind.