Tag Archives: patient choice

Guest Post – Naomi’s Notes – Mama

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Photo by dominik hofbauer on Unsplash

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.

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Palace of Care – Lockdown Locks and Roadblocks

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Photo by Mirza Babic on Unsplash

You really need a haircut.

Yeah, lockdown hair. I usually look different, like in my ID photo, I have a nose and a mouth under my mask.

So what do you want?

I’m here to find out how you are.

I can’t keep anything down, whatever I swallow comes back up. I’m too scared to eat anything. There’s something wrong with my poos too, haven’t been for four days, usually go twice a day. Last time it was black and sticky.

Do you have pain?

No, no pain but my tummy is getting bigger, sometimes it’s hard to breathe.

Hmm, listening to your tummy it’s very quiet on the left side, but loud on the right side. What do you think is going on?

I’m feeling worse, much more tired the last few days. What’s happening in my tummy?

We know that you have cancer in your tummy. It can act like speed bumps on a road, slowing down your gut traffic, that’s why your poos have slowed down. If there are enough speed bumps in your tummy they can act like a road block, then traffic can’t get through, and has to come back up, that’s why you’ve been vomiting. We can try to loosen up the roadblock with steroid medication, and we can try and push the traffic through with another medication, but…

But…Go on tell me, I need to know.

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Bedside Lessons – 4. The Father

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Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash

The old Chinese man was admitted with uncontrolled pain and breathing distress. His wife and son doted upon him and were worried about him as he had been rapidly worsening over the past weeks. He had previously had fluid from around his lung drained in hospital the other month, which had helped his breathing. His symptoms were controlled quickly but he still felt exhausted.

Even speaking to him in his native Mandarin Chinese it was difficult to tell what he really wanted. He appeared to know that things were worsening. It was just before New Zealand’s general election, and the End of Life Choice Act 2019 was being considered for enactment via National Referendum. He told me that he had already cast his vote and was in support of having the option of assisted dying. His son quickly told him that even if it was voted in that it could not be accessed until another 12 months.

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