By Young Joo Choi
As I walked into the CanSupport office, the excitement of the first day of work overshadowed any sense of tiredness from the two days of flight. We were handed a patient's case file detailing their condition, pain, and the treatment that they were provided. Each file was divided into three distinct sections, each representing one aspect of the home visit team: the doctor, the nurse, and the counselor. This embodied the holistic view of palliative care that CanSupport advocated, integrating physical, mental, and emotional facets of treatment, not only solely for the patient but their families as well.
I was greeted by two friendly faces — Nurse "Mini" and Counselor Babita — who invited me to go along with them for their share of home visits for the day. Out of the 5 patients that we visited through the day, two struck me the most.
My very first visit was with an 18 year-old patient who flashed us a shy and sweet smile as we entered into his home. He had conquered osteosarcoma, a cancer involving the bone, through surgery and chemotherapy and was luckily on the road to recovery. Although he overcome his battle with cancer, it was not without a wound. The surgery involved removing the afflicted portion of his body, which required the amputation of his right leg. Despite the eradication of cancerous cells, he had to still confront the pain from his leg and adapt to the new change. The home care team ensured that he had all of the necessary provisions to make him more comfortable — from refilling his prescription of drugs to recommending using crutches instead of walkers. They invited him to join the Day Care program at CanSupport, which would allow him to interact and partake in activities with other cancer patients his own age. With the same gentle smile as before, he nodded in agreement.
Unlike the initial visit, this female patient was in the midst of her fight against breast cancer. The home in her heart was a small village far from Delhi, but she admitted that her family had relocated here in order for her to receive medical treatment. Despite the dimness of the apartment, the light conversations, smiles, and laughs of the mother and daughter made the atmosphere feel brighter than the outside. From joking that the nurse was apt to become a doctor herself to discussing raging teenage hormones to confessing her distress about her hair loss due to chemotherapy treatments, we had forged human connections, despite some language barriers. Although the tears that she shed expressed her sorrow of losing her once luscious and precious hair, it also served as an emotional outlet where she could share her thoughts and have people sympathize with her. It appeared that the best remedies provided to the patients were not the drugs, but rather the compassion and emotional connections that CanSupport incorporates into their visits. Medicine isn't simply the treatment of a disease — it's the care of both the mind, body, and heart.
