Story 1: The always happy Maria

It is customary to arrive at 6am running to read stories of new patients, but above all the excitement of going to meet that new person who is put in the hospital and the doctors the faith they returned home healthy, of that faith falls on you like internal; So, how about another day took my pile of stories and I began to greet each of the warriors who were in each hospital bed while I was reading (again running) the stories until I got to one: Maria in her seventh decade of life, presenting ascites of non-precise etymology, an enigma to be deciphered

Well, I finished reading the stories and started the patient review but it was something everyday to see us every day questions with confidence: how is your weekend, if you dined with arepa or tizana, if your children came to visit, etc to do more enjoyable that exhausted review of each morning.

I must say that from that day on Maria was (I repeat) always cheerful! while the examines have the account as if you feel, always with your "stomachache" as she described it and I noted, however, always present to collaborate, perform exams and all the protocol involved in discovering a disease. The days passed and the day that Maria could have breakfast with empanadas and chicken dinner without "stomachache" was a triumph and something that had to be talked about without stopping all morning, we still did not discover that we had ahead, her children anguished despite the fact that understood 50% of what we said ..

Over the course of almost two weeks Maria was already trustworthy, although she always asked what would it be? That I have? We only answered calmly "We are discovering" for a full day the diagnosis: stomach cancer. How do we say it? The specialist made the decision to be the one who communicates to the family, for which the news was very difficult, however, his attitude was: What do we do? Although we have not created the same question for us, what do we do?

The first thing was not to worry Maria, her children decided not to say anything and only to inform that it was something in the stomach, that they would do routine procedures to drain the liquid in her stomach and it would be fine. And so it was that we began to perform a paracentesis every week that she could eat well one or two days "No discomfort"

But I kept asking the question: What do we do? What to do in a country where nothing is found for cancer patients, simply palliative care and wait for the opportunity to get chemotherapy in this case. Meanwhile, Maria was happy because she paracentesis more and more time but was already at home, more like that was the deal.

This is how our service with the commitment to see each other every few days and she happy to be at home. The weeks passed and she ran with the coincidence that it coincided with her visit to the hospital, time of having been transferred to a pediatric emergency where one day Maria's son arrived with what was his grandson, at once he greeted me "Hi Dra. Do you remember me? "to which he replied" Sure, how is Maria? " his face down and he said "My mom died"

Even though chemotherapy may not have been so effective because of the progress of its cancer, it is sad what happens in hospitals. The only comforting thing about this story is that Maria was always happy.