In Their Shoes

Recently I underwent a c-section to give birth to my baby.
While recovering from the surgery, I began to understand the difficulties that my patients face post surgical procedures.

My recovery was a joyful recovery with my daughter next to me and bonding and fairly easy.
However, my patients' recovery is difficult with having diagnosed with cancer or having diagnosed with advanced or recurrence of cancer. Operations could be minor to major and they also must think about treatments and their lives farther ahead. "Will this be the cure or what treatments are there out there?, Will this pain ever go away?, HOw long will I live?" So much of unknown and no particular clear answer to any one of them in most cases. They cling on to a sliver of hope they see and hang on to each word we, their oncologists and nurse practitioners say to them. And they desperately need our warmth and care and decisiveness in their care.

Then I looked back at how well did I responded to the needs of my patients. In most cases we try our best to spend as much time as possible with each patients. We give happy news and devastating news to them and give our best to sooth them. In modern medicine, time is everything. There are times when we all feel that we are tied down to time allotted for each patient. With each minute spent more with the patients, we fall behind in time and our perfect schedule of office visit to blood work to treatment schedule gets messed up. Most times, inevitable and necessary. Other times, because of the necessary long visits, others get delayed.

I have not yet to figure out the best way accommodate everything; time, emotional needs, and just being there for the patients.
I barely felt how my patients fell during my recovery, some unknowns, concerns, pain, but not even a hundredth of what they go through emotionally.

I can only hope that this would bring me to a more compassionate and empathetic provider...