Case Vignette
“We've been waiting for you to come on the oncology service,” the oncology fellow said, as the resident and nurse practitioner on service looked on. “We have a really challenging case.”
Our patient was a frail 77-year-old woman with unresectable pancreatic adenocarcinoma, saddle pulmonary embolus, protein calorie malnutrition, hepatitis C, and recurrent infections, all of which had resulted in a lengthy hospital stay. Her cancer had progressed despite two lines of chemotherapy. She wanted more treatment, but had been told she was too weak. In our first meeting, she told me that her goal was “to get strong enough for more chemotherapy.” She had interpreted the previous oncology attending's statement about her fitness for chemotherapy as a challenge, and thought, “If I can get stronger, I can get more.” Knowing and trusting my colleague, I imagine his statement was meant as a stepping stone toward a transition to hospice. Her family fiercely defended her desire for rehabilitation as well (“Don't take away her hope,” they had said), so she remained in a hospital-based limbo, too weak for physical therapy and without sufficient understanding of her prognosis to allow a seamless transition to hospice.
Case Vignette“We've been waiting for you to come on the oncology service,” the oncology fellow said, as the resident and nurse practitioner on service looked on. “We have a really challenging case.”Our patient was a frail 77-year-old woman with unresectable pancreatic adenocarcinoma, saddle pulmonary embolus, protein calorie malnutrition, hepatitis C, and recurrent infections, all of which had resulted in a lengthy hospital stay. Her cancer had progressed despite two lines of chemotherapy. She wanted more treatment, but had been told she was too weak. In our first meeting, she told me that her goal was “to get strong enough for more chemotherapy.” She had interpreted the previous oncology attending's statement about her fitness for chemotherapy as a challenge, and thought, “If I can get stronger, I can get more.” Knowing and trusting my colleague, I imagine his statement was meant as a stepping stone toward a transition to hospice. Her family fiercely defended her desire for rehabilitation as well (“Don't take away her hope,” they had said), so she remained in a hospital-based limbo, too weak for physical therapy and without sufficient understanding of her prognosis to allow a seamless transition to hospice.
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