Advance Care Planning (ACP) is recommended for everyone. It allows people to convey what is important to them. It can guide loved ones and health professionals as to what your wishes are in the case of you becoming incapable of expressing yourself. Such a situation is possible for anyone and thus it is recommended to be completed whilst you are well. Although it can be hard to imagine how you would feel or act in the event of severe illness or disability. ACP allows people to take some control of the end of their lives. This is what I want, this is want I don’t want. This is who I want around me. This is how I define what is quality of life for me. This is where I draw the line. It can be a confronting and difficult exercise to complete with your loved ones but it maybe a crucial method to communicate what you really want.
My patient had been diagnosed with MND (Motor Neurone Disease) over a year ago, and after attending the second clinic appointment they had introduced him to ACP. He read through the booklet with his wife, and it appealed to his organised nature. He always had a monthly, yearly and five-yearly plan in action. The doctor had said that most people would die of MND 18 months after diagnosis. This can mean time is running out, and this is not aided by diagnostic delay. All other illness have to be excluded before the diagnosis of MND is confirmed, for most people it is still a death sentence.
Reincarnation was one of the topics of conversation in the first room this morning. Our patient was a believer and had told his wife that she would come back as a dog. Unfortunately one of their daughters had died only a few years ago. It is always difficult for parents to deal with, as it goes against nature’s order to have a child die before a parent. One of the tragedies in life that elderly people would like to avoid if at all possible. Their daughter had died but had left her traces everywhere.
She had always loved butterflies, and had grown lots of swan plants in order to provide food for her favourite Monarch butterflies. She had a keen eye for their caterpillars and could see them from a distance, their yellow, black and white lines indicating their presence. She especially loved the pupae/cocoons that would form as the caterpillars went through the biggest changes in their lives, metamorphosis. Coming out the other side of the process transformed, with a new outlook on life and the ability to fly. Looking so different in colour scheme and features. She had always loved to have butterflies around. In some cultures it is believed that butterflies are visiting dead friends and family members who have come to see you from the other side of the grave. This is a comforting thing to have your ancestors come to see how you are.
Our patient had been steadily deteriorating over the past week, and he and the family had derived some comfort in being visited by Monarch butterflies. It was thought that their late daughter/sister was visiting their father as he entered his final cocoon state, just before dying. I told them that when people die in our hospice we would affix a butterfly to the door.
I have often drawn cocoons on our patient list board to indicate that people are undergoing the final transformation in their life, the dying process. One in which everything starts to wind down, the heart, lungs and other organ functions change. A person becomes sleepier, and less clear in their mind, Nature or a higher power’s way of protecting the dying person from the full experience of dying.
“Please keep on talking to him, he can hear you, but might not be able to respond to you.” Family members were considering leaving for home to come back again soon, but I advised that he could die at anytime, and that traveling under lockdown restrictions was not as easy as usual. Probably better to hang around and support each other for a few more days.
My consultant asked the young man, “What would you like us to call you?”
He answered, “Your highness.”
“Okay your highness, how have you been?”
That was an entertaining start to the therapeutic relationship which put everyone at ease, and allowed for an air of playfulness to come into the clinical encounter. The patient was in his late thirties and had come into hospital with severe pain. It was likely due to cancer metastases, and he was still recovering from his last cycle of chemotherapy when we visited him.
He talked about what was most important to him, spending time with his young son. This was whilst he was carefully mixing flax seed oil into a serving of yoghurt, as part of a cancer treatment diet that he was trying. He would try anything to keep himself going and wanted to spend as much time with his son as possible.
Despite all the treatments that he had received the cancer continued to progress causing ever more problems. The side-effects of the aggressive treatment were severe and included the loss of his hair. He said that he had always had good hair, and it was one of his personal trademarks since he was a teenager. Now he didn’t mind losing his hair, and he had even designed a t-shirt for the sake of entertaining himself and those who looked after him.
He loosened his dressing gown and revealed his creation. In bold font it simply said, “Hair by Chemo.”
Today was shower day. In preparation, I lit the fire and made the room nice and warm, laid out her clothes so they would be nice and cosy to get into, just like my mother had done countless times over the years for all her children.
After showering, I raced her down the hallway in her wheelchair into the warm room and proceeded to dress her and blow dry her hair. She was unable to transfer other than to put her arms around my waist and hold onto me as I put her into her favourite chair.
“Well, now you have to pay me,” I announced.
She looked at me suspiciously until I said the cost of the shower was two kisses.
She smiled and gave me five kisses and said, “Oh I have overpaid you.”
“Don’t worry,” I replied, “I have change.” I kissed her cheek three times; She laughed just like she used to laugh and then I made her a hot cup of tea. After the tea she fell asleep in her chair. She looked exhausted from the effort of showering and slept for an hour.
When people came to visit she would try and sit up and talk with them but after a while she was just so exhausted. Her kidney function was getting worse.
I know that you put on the show for your friends and social media, but you don’t need to do that with us. You don’t have to be all right when you are feeling anything but.
We need to see the real you in order to be able to really help you.
We know how strong and tough you are.
Please don’t use up your precious energy telling us what you think we want to hear.
I will be honest with you but I want you to ask for help when you need it.
We will always use as little medication as we can, but we do not want you to put up with discomfort, we don’t want you to struggle.
We are really keen to help you, if you’ll let us.
Can you do that?
What would make this place feel less like a hospital for you?
Please bring in your own stuff to decorate the walls.
You have made brave decisions recently to stop treatment, which I fully support.
I’d be happy to explain things to your partner when they come in.
Listen to your body, don’t push yourself. Rest when you need to, think of it as a recharge. Ask for help when you need to.
Save your energy for nicer things, more important activities, like spending time with your partner.
If there is anything you disagree with, please let us know.
We’d like to give you back some control of your situation, completing the advance care plan will help.
We are on your side and will be guided by what you want, or don’t want.
Pearls are formed by oysters when they try to wall off something that irritates them. The irritant gets covered in layers of a substance called nacre (mother/parent of pearl) and can become something beautiful of high value. This process is explained well here.
Some patients are truly a pleasure to look after. Some will find their way through your protective shell and into your heart. I was granted permission to broadcast the following story by Perlin Soong and his parents as he hoped that it would help others in similar situations.
I’d heard about Perlin months before I actually met him. He was described as a remarkable 32 year old man who had advanced metastatic cancer. He’d received many treatments and had come close to dying a number of times in the past year. His oncologist arranged for me to meet Perlin in hospice outpatient clinic as he had questions to ask about the end of his life, which he was likely approaching.
Perlin attended clinic with his parents, having recently completed whole brain radiotherapy for brain metastases. At the time he felt relatively well but knew that things could worsen at any time. Thus he tried to make the most of each day, e.g. He had recently fine-dined at one of Auckland’s best restaurants with a fellow foodie friend – had bivalves been on the menu?
Perlin had been distressed by severe headaches, nerve-related leg pains, breathlessness and panic attacks. We explained that we could usually control such symptoms well and on the rare occasions that we couldn’t, Palliative Sedation therapy could be offered. This final resort therapy would make him less aware of his symptoms, and usually out of the hundreds of cases that we dealt with each year, only two or three of them required sedation. This conversation reassured Perlin.
Perlin recounted having being surprised that a work colleague became his chemotherapy buddy, as they were both being treated at the same time for advanced cancers. He talked sadly about how his friend had deteriorated rapidly and that his death had been upsetting, but had spurred Perlin into completing his own Advance Care Plan (ACP.) Perlin’s preference of places to die were, in descending order; at home if possible, hospice and hospital only if it couldn’t be avoided. As long as he could be kept comfortable without too much distress for his parents he would be “okay.”
Perlin worried about having seizures or stroke-like events. His mother had been affected by a previous stroke, and required care provided by his father. Perlin was worried that his father would not cope with caring for him and his mother at home. If this happened Perlin would consider residential care placement.
My impression was that Perlin had accepted his situation in a brave and pragmatic manner, and he was trying his best to look after his parents. Perlin talked about having organized as much as he could in order to make things as simple as possible for his parents, this included his advance care plan, his will, and a fully-paid highly detailed funeral plan complete with Spotify playlists to play.
Over the next two months Perlin was able to stay at home as he gradually deteriorated. His condition worsened leading to a fall, that led to a hospital admission which resulted in transfer into our inpatient unit for further symptom control and discharge planning.
Physically a lot had changed since we had last seen Perlin, he needed a lot of assistance and was largely bed bound. Cognitively he was still intact and he greeted me by name in his usual friendly manner. He had been troubled by pain and agreed to us changing his medications to make him more comfortable.
Two days later, we had a long talk about his worsening situation due to continued rapid progression of his cancer. This was despite steroid treatment, which would only have a temporary effect. Perlin noticed that cognitively he was not as lucid as he was at the time of admission. It was agreed between us, Perlin and his parents that further increases in steroid would not occur.
Perlin said that he did not have any regrets, and that he would be okay with dying, if it was his time, but that he wanted to make the most of his current quality of life. We clarified with Perlin what his idea of quality of life was; he wanted to not be in pain, didn’t mind being sleepy and in bed or his La-Z-Boy chair, wanted to be able to enjoy the company of his parents, watching movies, eating food, and listening to music. We decided with Perlin that if he was unable to enjoy the above or if he was suffering from uncontrolled pain, then withdrawal of steroids would be appropriate.
Perlin made it clear that he was uninterested in being maintained in a state of limbo, i.e. kept on high dose steroids whilst not having quality of life. We confirmed with Perlin and his parents his ACP wishes. He talked about not wanting to receive futile treatments and being kept alive in a vegetative state. He said, “I don’t want to end up like Michael Schumacher, I don’t want to end up like that.”
Perlin talked about his Race4Life wishes: He had been on a helicopter ride, and a meeting with PM Jacinda Ardern had been arranged for that week but due to NZ’s second COVID-19 Lockdown, Ms Ardern was understandably busy in Wellington. Instead, Perlin wrote a personal note to Ms Ardern who replied back a few days later with a handwritten note and a signed photograph, which please Perlin and his proud parents.
Perlin expressed how glad he was to have completed his ACP already and having arranged for a lot of other things while still relatively well. Perlin said it was important for him to share his story as he thought it could help to encourage other people to make plans early. He was glad that he had done so months ago, as he was too unwell to do so now, which would have caused much distress for him and his parents.
We asked if he needed help with anything else? “No, I’ve sorted almost everything out, except…” Perlin talked about having worked through his movie bucket list and his unsuccessful search for two movies, Run Lola Run, and Tango (1999.) That afternoon I emailed our hospice staff and within hours we had managed to find online access for both of the movies.
In the following week Perlin deteriorated and naturally became more sleepy and less lucid, as previously agreed steroids were reduced whilst medications were adjusted to keep Perlin comfortable.
Perlin was deeply asleep as we discussed the ongoing and rapid deterioration in his condition over the past days – Perlin was dying. His Dad talked about Perlin’s life and how he had always meticulously planned everything. He said that Perlin had already arranged personalised gifts for friends and family. For example, Perlin had arranged a dental appointment for Dad to have his teeth sorted, as well as nice clothing for his mum, who would never spend such money on herself. He had pre-written emails to the teams that had been treating him, that were to be sent out in the event of his death. He had also given Dad instructions on what to upload to Facebook when he died. I spoke to Perlin and said that we would get him through this, and that we would keep a close eye on his parents too. I was surprised when he answered back, “Thank you, thank you.”
Perlin was kept comfortable as he continued to deteriorate, and our care focus shifted to also supporting his parents through their most difficult time. Days later Perlin died peacefully in their deeply loving presence.Perlin had been a good friend, a trusted colleague, a Crossfit enthusiast, a world explorer, a brave man who looked after many. His life was not long, but he had packed so much into it. He touched a lot of people during his time, even experienced hospice staff sniffed back some tears as he was dying.
Perlin had talked about tough topics with grace. ACP can be a scary and uncomfortable concept to get to grips with, but it can be so helpful for peace of mind and to decrease family stress. It was truly a pleasure to be involved with Perlin and his family’s care, and to bear witness to the love and respect that they showed towards each other. Perlin was a fine reflection of his parent’s loving care and parenting skills. Anyone would be proud to have a son like him.
Goodbye Perlin, and thank you for having made the world a better place with your presence.
“The last few years have taught me that when it is our time to leave this world no one can stop it. We have one life to live. The material things we invest in are left behind only to be discarded. Live life to the fullest, don’t waste it and do what you want to do.” – Perlin Soong
Dr Barbara Hayes and Prof Joe Ibrahim have combined forces to make this elegant simple Youtube resource to explain not for resuscitation orders, cardiopulmonary resuscitation, and advance care planning for patients and families.
It works through the differing perspectives of medical teams and patients and their families to explain why sometimes CPR can do more harm than good.
palliverse.com 