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One Christmas week I was working day shift. We had a lot of young men and women as patients on the cancer floor. All were either newly diagnosed as cancer or in for chemo or radiation treatments. Cancer treatments know no holidays. You are treated if your treatment comes due at holiday time. One young man in his early 20's was in for chemo treatment for CA of the testicles. He was married for a little over 3 yrs and the father of child almost 2 yrs old. His wife and child were the love and joy of his life. Before his chemo this admission, he had to have a complete work up to determine his progress to a cure or to the progress of is cancer. Bad news was to be learned. His cancer was spreading and his blood counts were low. He began to run a high temp, he was septic. IV antibotics were started and an iv line to be kept open. After a week of treatment, he condition did not improve. Sad to say he died on Christmas Eve.We also lost a young woman of 30 to leukemia, and a young man to lung cancer that week of Christmas. Death knows no holidays either. Our cancer patients were like family as we saw them every 4 to 6 weeks for treatment. Back then you were admited to the hospital for treatments. Now some are done in the doctor's office instead. First chemo treatments are given in the hospital still to see how you tolerate them. Radiation is done as outpatient if you live in a reasonable driving distance. Losing a patient was like losing family. Sad for family, sad, too, for us. |
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