2016; Volume 17, No 4, April

Global Palliative Care Community Highlights – initiatives and newsbites from across the world

How palliative care helped me make an important decision in my life

This story is brought to you by the team at Pallium India

“I remember the fateful day we learned what was wrong with my father. It was Onam festival; we all had gathered together at my parent’s house for a hearty traditional feast.”

Bindu Nair, a volunteer with Pallium India

In the narrative How Palliative Care Helped Me Make an Important Decision in My Life, published in the Journal of Pain and Palliative Care Pharmacotherapy, Bindu Nair, a volunteer with Pallium India, narrates the grueling ordeal that began at Onam, the harvest festival of Kerala, as they took her 83-year-old father from one doctor to another, only to finally be told that he had a third-stage brain tumor. The doctors suggested surgery, which would take care of the tumor. But Bindu did not want to see him suffer at this stage of his life. “For them he was just another patient and a new 'case', but for me he was my dearest Daddy,” she writes. She had a tough choice to make – to decide what was best for her father. One doctor was willing to discuss with Bindu what was best for her father as a person, and agreed with her to focus on his quality of life. The family eventually decided not to go ahead with a major neurosurgical procedure.

Bindu attributes her decision to the palliative care training she had received some time before her father’s illness was diagnosed. In her words, “Little did I know that this training would turn out to be what I needed to help my father die at home peacefully and without pain or suffering.” The training made her understand that her father needs extra care and happiness during the last days of his life rather than the tortures of surgery and its aftermath.

When her father died after two months of peaceful life with his children and grandchildren, Bindu and her family members also had the satisfaction of being able to serve him when it was needed.

Read the article How Palliative Care Helped Me Make an Important Decision in My Life by Bindu Nair. The Journal of Pain and Palliative Care Pharmacotherapy, in which this story is published, is an indexed journal that has made the narratives free access. The journal welcomes your narratives on pain, suffering and relief. Tell your story to the world and help improve palliative care awareness.

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