Prognosis

Some things change, and some things stay the same. And while some appear similar, life will never be the same for one of our patients.

Mr. X came to us for a sore that wouldn't heal. This is not exactly a big deal with many of our patients because, due to the nature of their various injuries, slow-healing wounds are not uncommon. Some people have them on and off for years, as did our patient.

One day, the doc comes in and tells patient, "I don't like that wound. We need to do a biopsy." I accompany one of the providers from the service that day and he does the biopsy and sends it off.

A few days later, on the next rounds, Doc tells him, "You have a malignancy. We will have to evaluate you to see what we need to do." A few specialists later, they evaluate the plan and Doc tells Mr. X that he has options. "One, they can operate. It is not without peril, since about one third of patients don't survive the surgery. Two, they can let it go and do nothing."

While my account may seem terse, Doc explained the patient's options very slowly, carefully, and most of all, very compassionately.

Mr. X says, "I want to do something." Doc tells him he'll have more information for him by next week.

So he waits...