An incurable patient is an incurable patient. Usually the viability of such a person is still supported by appropriate medicines, but only with the aim of alleviating suffering, and not healing, since in such cases there is practically no hope for a positive outcome.
Incurable patient: who is this
When a loved one comes to the edge, it becomes scary. No matter how paradoxical and cruel it may sound, but in such cases you want a quick and easy end, especially if you are sure that it is inevitable. Unfortunately, few get such instant death, especially in our time, when oncology "thrives" and almost every fourth house has an incurable patient. Who are these patients, you ask? Doctors will answer: such people are no longer even their “clients”, because they cannot cure them. Cancer is a terrible disease, the attack of the XXI century. It is good when it is discovered at an early stage. And what about those who already have the third or fourth degree of the disease? Or is it the initial form, but, as it sometimes happens, it is inoperable?
Such doomed patients are often discharged home, leaving them and their relatives alone with grief. This principle is not only in Russia, but also in most countries of the world. Doctors are thinking: why would a hopeless patient take a place in a medical institution if it can be given to that person who still has a chance to be sure to save? Cruel but logical.
Actions of relatives
Incurable cancer patients are people who face great injustice. They have to experience hell on earth when they realize that precious minutes are gone forever: there are very few of them left. What can we say about their relatives and immediate environment. They go through nine circles of hell, being tied to the bed of a doomed man, because he needs professional medical care. Family members take turns watching boats, artificial openings for breathing and evacuation, treating postoperative sutures, disintegrating tumors, enduring the patient’s whims, listening to his groans and cries…
Even the most courageous relatives often fall into despair at such a fate. Indeed, to provide a terminally ill patient with a decent life is a difficult task, but quite solvable. And it is necessary to do this, even if a person has only a few months or weeks left. The main thing is not to give up. And remember that the person is not to blame. It is unlikely that he wanted such an end for himself, and for you a similar life.
Doctors' appointments
What isincurable cancer patient, we figured it out. Now let's look at the aspect of the medical care that they receive. It would be blasphemous to leave them completely without medical support, so they must be registered with the district oncologist. He is obliged to advise the patient himself or his relatives on such topics: what drugs can be used, where to buy them and how to get them. Prescriptions are written out in the clinic: theoretically, only painkillers “shine” for such a person. And then the doctor can prescribe the drug for 5 days, after which the relatives again have to beat the threshold.
Ambulances, despite their overload and tight work schedule, are trying to respond to calls for such patients. Not always and not everyone does it willingly, but it cannot do without good hearts. Representatives of the media also contribute. They regularly publish tragic stories in newspapers and shoot stories about them, trying to reach high-ranking officials so that they pass the appropriate laws to make life easier for hopeless patients.
Palliative care
The incurable patient really needs it. This is the help he needs, which provides the patient and his relatives with support at all stages of an incurable disease: medical, social and psychological. All types of such therapy are provided at home. Many cities have established special teams of doctors who work exclusively with such patients, usually acting on a voluntary basis. They come to them a fewonce a week, check their condition, give recommendations, have conversations.
Palliative care for incurable patients is a variety of support that "works" in cases where anti-cancer treatment no longer helps. It can be aimed both at reducing the manifestations of oncology, and at maximizing life extension. Palliative care is often provided by volunteers. They begin to communicate with patients while still in the hospital. Thanks to them, family members receive extensive information and psychological support before their relative is released from the hospital.
Main task
Incurable cancer patients are being treated until the “victory end”. This means that all possible therapy is applied to them: radiation and chemical, as well as drug treatment and laser exposure. When all radical methods have been exhausted and the result is not achieved, the patient is usually considered terminally ill. Despite his status, he has the right to a normal life. Palliative care is in charge of ensuring its quality. This is the main task of the staff, who must start from a simple truth: every person has the right to get rid of pain.
Therefore, doctors and volunteers are obliged to monitor the novelties in the medical market and immediately inform relatives about them. There are also special organizations that collect financial assistance if the family's financial situation does not allow them to buy expensive medicines. Another important function of palliative care is to brightenleisure of the patient, diversify it. Therefore, volunteers often come to the home of the sick, trying to interest them in a variety of activities: drawing, singing, reading, needlework, and so on.
Other patients
Cancer patients are the core of palliative care. But they are not the only ones who need this kind of help. There are other incurable patients: people dying from the Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, Urbach-Wite disease, progeria and other ailments. They can be treated, but therapy in most cases is ineffective. Do not forget about lonely old people who cannot take care of themselves, as well as people with disabilities who are left alone with their misfortune. These patients also need palliative care. Its main advantage is that it is free.
Helping incurable patients in these cases is similar. Often the staff also acts on a volunteer and voluntary basis. He goes to the house and does, in fact, the most “dirty” work: he changes diapers and bed linen, treats bedsores. If relatives do not visit such patients, they also need other help. Therefore, it is quite common for volunteers or social workers to buy food for them, cook meals, feed them, and also clean the room and wash their clothes.
Hospice
The incurable patient has the right to stay in it. It's a pretty dark place, society thinks. But this is a delusion. In hospices, people do not die, but live: they write books, playchess, walk in the garden, watch comedies, read newspapers, communicate. The staff adheres to the principle: if a person cannot be saved from imminent death, this does not mean that he does not need elementary leisure. Hospice staff are working on this.
When an incurable patient appears in the family, the placement in the hospice should take place with his personal consent. This will make life much easier for relatives, as the staff of the institution professionally copes with pressure sores, skillfully influences the patient's psyche, and selects the optimal painkillers for him. Holidays, parties are arranged for them, and for the smallest patients they even become magicians, fulfilling their cherished desires. At the expense of virtues and caring citizens, kids are given toys, they take them to ride horses, they arrange a meeting with their favorite artists. And it is easier for the most incurable patient to come to terms with fate when he is surrounded by comrades in misfortune. Together they support each hospice resident and get used to living in a new way.
