30 Something Baby Doc

During the month of December I performed a hysterectomy on one of my patient's that I knew very well. She is a very sweet 35 year old woman with 3 small children. The surgery was being performed for what I thought was benign uterine fibroids. Unfortunately while performing the hysterectomy I quickly realized that she has leiomyosarcoma which is an aggressive form of uterine cancer. With the assistance of an oncology (cancer) specialist, we were able to remove a majority of the tumor. I recall how emotionless the patient seemed after the surgery when I informed her of the diagnosis. She was scheduled for radiation therapy after her surgery, but after 3 sessions she elected not to continue because of the nausea and other side effects. Within the span of one month the cancer returned. She developed a very large tumor in her pelvis and has since returned to the hospital multiple times for severe pain.

During surgery today, the residents on my team informed me that she was admitted again for pain management on the medicine service. I hadn't seen her for several months since her surgery follow-up appointment. I decided to go up to her room and say hello. When I walked into the room her eyes lit up and she told me she was very happy that I had taken the time out of my day to come visit her. I was very moved by her appreciation over something that I felt to be so simple. I sat down and we chatted with her for a few minutes. It was nice to catch up.

As a physician, at times I feel it's necessary to distance myself from patients emotinally, inorder to stay objective, but it's nice to know that a simple "hello" can be the best medicine.