Live to Eat or Eat to Live?

I am a bit exasperated with one of my patient who is more wanting to eat rather than to live. He has by the way, Lymphoma and all the work and improvement we had, all went up in smoke because he ate 4 pieces of pandesal.

Giving up the fight

Yesterday, I was giving some treatments to a patient of mine with Non-Hodgkin's. She has been a patient of mine for close to 2 years now. She was a good patient, she followed all the instructions to the letter.

"Was," because for the past few months, she started straying and eating all the foods that a cancer survivor should not eat. Her lymph nodes have swelled to astronomical proportions on different parts of her body. God only knows how much lymph nodes are now affected.

When she was asked, if she wanted to go to the hospital, her reply was "NO, just let me be, I'm tired."

So I had talked to her daughter that she needs to talk with her siblings on what is the next appropriate action.

I told her, that I don't like the idea of treating patients who doesn't want to be treated anymore. I would rather the patient spend their time on what they want to do rather than feeling imprisoned with the treatments that they feel will not make any difference.