If the stress in your life is more than you can cope with, get help right away.
A word of background: Our Palliative Care Service assists patients in the hospitals with quality of life issues and symptom control. Typically, the patients we see have been through surgery, radiation therapy, chemotherapy or other interventions.
This particular patient was a gentleman in his late 30s, a father of four and a member of a tight-knit farming community in another state.
He had a congenital heart defect for which he had undergone multiple open-heart procedures and tried the most up-to-date cardiac medications as well as pacemakers — all to no avail. The only option left was a heart transplant, but for a variety of medical and technical reasons this was not a viable option for this patient.
When our team shared this information with him and his family, he reacted with a remarkable sense of peace and acceptance, made possible by his profound faith in a "higher power." The medical staff was moved, and a few tears were shed. In a reversal of roles, it was the patient who comforted us. He acknowledged that all reasonable avenues had been explored, and he was facing the future with dignity and serenity.
As we walked out of the room, no one spoke. But as the days unfolded, many of us reminisced about this remarkable man and how he harnessed the power of faith to deal with adversity.
A word of background: Our Palliative Care Service assists patients in the hospitals with quality of life issues and symptom control. Typically, the patients we see have been through surgery, radiation therapy, chemotherapy or other interventions.
This particular patient was a gentleman in his late 30s, a father of four and a member of a tight-knit farming community in another state.
He had a congenital heart defect for which he had undergone multiple open-heart procedures and tried the most up-to-date cardiac medications as well as pacemakers — all to no avail. The only option left was a heart transplant, but for a variety of medical and technical reasons this was not a viable option for this patient.
When our team shared this information with him and his family, he reacted with a remarkable sense of peace and acceptance, made possible by his profound faith in a "higher power." The medical staff was moved, and a few tears were shed. In a reversal of roles, it was the patient who comforted us. He acknowledged that all reasonable avenues had been explored, and he was facing the future with dignity and serenity.
As we walked out of the room, no one spoke. But as the days unfolded, many of us reminisced about this remarkable man and how he harnessed the power of faith to deal with adversity.
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