Chapter 5 - Palliative Care

In words of Buddha…

No matter how hard the past is, we can always start afresh

It has been more then 10months, I am still trying to come terms with my loss. Had it been that easy, then everyone around me would have been happy. Such a perfect place to live, this world would have been. But none of us is happy ( Don't go by what i say, but introspect, you will find the answers). I come across a lot of people everyday but i haven’t found one such person…who is happy enough to not complain.

I understand that starting afresh is my only option. But the time i will  take to start, only time will tell. Moving from past to present, today i want to talk about the most difficult phase of life...when with every passing moment papa was suffering more. I knew time was running out but .... I became a spectator, He could not be saved.

In my last post i talked about the doctor telling me in my first visit of making my father nearing end…”easier” as NOTHING can be done now. What he meant was they will try to lessen his pain by medicines, care and counseling. This process of “trying” to make life comfortable is known as palliative care or support care or comfort care.

Papa, received palliative care from day 1 of his treatment,  and it continued till the day when he took his last breath. We were trying, but  nothing was coming out. I was loosing hope, I was scared as a result, i  spent most of my day in thinking or reading about other forms of treatment and pain relievers. Papa was trying hard. He just wouldn’t let go. Every time the palliative care team visited papa, at least papa spoke. Papa would plan his queries and ask me to write on paper, this gave me immense peace- though momentarily. As a result i started looking forward to visit from the team, That meant so much to me. 

CARE or NO CARE, i knew the result from the very first day. Nothing helped him. Neither medicines nor our prayers. And now, all i know is my father has left me. In his life, after cancer  the only thing that gave him some relief were the pain killers. Starting form 2 tablets a day to  a day arrived, when papa was just  having  the pain killers - absolutely no food, no juice, no water. We would moisten his lips with cotton dipped in water or may be put few drop of water by a spoon. How helpless CANCER made my father.  This continued for 4 months..But he held on. And then...

Even after taking precaution(s) and trying in vain. All the symptoms came along. one by one and i could do nothing.

He went away right in front of eyes….

Love you papa!

A little more about PALLIATIVE CARE

What is palliative care?

Palliative care is usually given to patients with  life threatening or serious illness such as cancer. The aim of this kind of care, is basically to handle or treat  the symptoms or side effects of the disease  as soon as they appear. The aim is to cure as prevention is not possible. Palliative care is also known as support care, symptom management or comfort care

When to start palliative care?

Palliative care, especially in diseases like cancer starts right from the diagnosis and continues throughout the treatment.

Who gives palliative care?

Usually the treating oncologist, but other people like the pain specialist, dietician, counsellor play an important role. The aim of palliative care is to  make life comfortable.