Yesterday, Peter Elias, MD, fellow member of the Society for Participatory Medicine (www.participatorymedicine.org) asked us to offer questions that caregivers may have of providers as they care for their loved ones with cancer. I’m recall our experience caring for our son, Mike, when he was being treated for and dying of melanoma. Mike was a young adult in his 20’s with very clear ideas about quality of life – I don’t want someone wiping my butt; and about death – I wasn’t born with a tattoo on my ass telling me how long I had to live. He leaned into our family’s love for him and adamantly continued his education. He talked about his struggles openly and expressed himself in macabre humor and inspired poetry. He bristled at the scent of anyone making a decision for him. He was grateful and accepting of our participation in conversations with providers during the diagnostic phase, but when he knew he was going to die, he had the difficult conversations with his doctors alone. He had no problem with us asking questions later. So what questions did we, loving caregivers, have for the providers?
- How do we help him manage the insidious effects of the disease and treatment – constipation, fatigue, bloating, sensitivity to heat, melancholy, etc.?
- How likely will the surgery, chemo, radiation, steroids affect his prognosis and quality of life? What if he doesn’t want them?
- When and for what should we contact you and if not you, who? When should we go to the Emergency Department?
Sometimes we agreed with the provider and disagreed with Mike. The biggest issue was hospice. We wanted Mike to enroll in hospice to get the benefit of their ability to manage activities of daily living. He resisted mightily. He didn’t need it. He reluctantly gave in when constipation got so bad.
Now that I think about it we didn’t have that many questions for the providers. Our biggest interaction was help find the right providers – ones that would show him compassion, listen to him, and design his course of treatment based on his direction. When he needed brain surgery and then lung surgery we were more involved in post care than surgeon selection. We asked a lot of questions of the residents, especially about pain management. Mike would be curled up post-op in a fetal position and say he was a 3 on a scale of 1-10. Clearly he was an 11. The best docs helped us help him manage that pain when we asked. We loved those providers that respected him and gave us anytime access to ask questions as they arose. Access is a priceless commodity. The best providers took care of us a little too.
Oh, Mike, I miss you so much.
