My Grandmother Had Breast Cancer

The ethical dilemma encountered by the nurse involved a 69 year-old female patient. This patient had cancer that had metastasized to the bones and brain with a diagnosis of approximately one week to live. This patient was alert and oriented times four but very weak and lethargic. The patient was having difficulty swallowing pills, fluids and food. Therefore her intake was very little. She had no advance directives but was of sound mind and could make her own decisions. The patient’s pain level was 10/10 on a pain scale of 0-10 with 10 being the worst pain. “Even before end of life, nearly half of patients with cancer report moderate to severe pain; up to 30% report the pain as severe; and an estimated 25% will die in pain ("End-of Life Care," 2015)”. The patient’s family did not want the patient to take her pain medication during the day because it would sedate the patient. They wanted to spend every waking moment with their loved one. “Often family members of the dying patient cannot make end-of-life decisions or have conflicting desires about the care that should be provided (Blais &

She used to be a hairstylist but then she was diagnosed in 1995 with Non-Hodgkins’s lymphoma. She went in many of times to the doctor because she had a lump on her neck. The doctors took samples of it and said it was nothing, but she kept getting sicker and sicker. She was finally admitted to the hospital a couple weeks after she went in. They ran some more test and found three spots with Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. My grandma then went through six months of chemo therapy to try and get rid of the cancer. Then in December of 1995 she found out that the lumps have shrunken and she was cancer free. No more chemo. During it all though she lost a lot of weight and along with losing weight she also lost her hair. After we have thought that my grandma has made it out of the woods she was diagnosed with breast cancer. She didn’t want to go through anymore chemo again so she had a mastectomy. She then found out that the surgeons have successfully removed all of the

Everyone knows the disastrous effects cancer has on a person and their loved ones. Knowing that my mom was misdiagnosed, there could've been a moment when she may have still been here on Earth. During 2005, my mom noticed that something was wrong with her. This realization lead her to go seek a doctor at Lincoln hospital. During her examination, the doctors didn't noticed anything was wrong. After three years she went back again, and Dr. Max Ann examined my mother a second time,but this time he discovered that she had cancer. This

Imagine a frail elderly woman laying in the nursing home in pain. This woman is 80 years old and has been diagnosed with terminal lung cancer and her heart cannot withstand treatment via radiation or chemotherapy. She has less than six months to live. Day in and day out you pass her room and hear her crying out from the immense pain. The pain medications are no longer working. She’s tired of fighting, tired of hurting, and tired of waiting to die. After consideration and discussions with her family she has decided to ask the doctor to help and end her life. The doctor feels remorse for the elderly lady and wants to help but cannot decide if it is the ethical thing to do because he knows that what he’s

It was early one summer afternoon, shortly after lunchtime, when I heard my mom scramble towards the door. There was little noise, besides her loud stomps and faint cries through the drywall. The wind whistled faintly through my slightly open windows. Suddenly, the air conditioning kicked in startling me. It sounded as if it was a faint boat in the distance. I could make out the sound of the air conditioning through my vents. My brother’s television powered on, as well as my dad’s. They whispered silently through the insulation. Eventually, it all turned off and once again there was my mom’s loud stomps and faint cries.

When she died five years after first symptoms ,the cancer had spread throughout her body over those five years. My mother was very depressed

My mother’s side of the family has a history of cancer. My maternal grandmother and great aunt and uncle all died of some form of cancer. My mother, as well as her siblings are at risk for cancer.

My mom was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer stage IV last July. “I could believe what was happening to me, at the age of 44 I considered myself a healthy person, I was never sick, I never smoked, I was highly active and had a healthy diet. I couldn't find a possible explanation that justified this illness.” she said. It was really though for my family, we couldn't even say the word “cancer” for a few months. We became angry because we thought that my mom didn’t deserved that. The doctors were confident, even though stage IV of pancreatic cancer has 1% of survival rate in the US. In addition to that, my mom’s tumor couldn't be removed because the cancer spread to distant organs.

When I was a kid, I always wondered why it took so long for an ill person to become well again. I always thought that if the ill person went to the doctor they would be back to normal the next day, but that’s not the case. For some people it took several days, weeks, months, and even years to conquer an illness but as a child I never could understand that. I don’t know how many times I’ve asked my mom or dad how come the doctors don’t get together and make a “miracle” drug that could heal anything and everything. It wasn’t until the age of 15 when my grandmother was diagnosed with breast cancer that I understood why it took so long for others to heal and the process that they had to endure in order to be healthy again. Shortly after my grandmother’s diagnosis, I started looking into what it would take to get a drug that would cure cancer through the approval process on the shelf to save some many others just like my grandmother. But I kept running into a dead end. Everything seemed to keep pointing towards chemotherapy and radiation. Although I wanted something to heal my grandmother fast, chemotherapy and radiation was the only solution if I had wish to see her watch me graduate high school. I went to almost every appointment with her to watch how it helped strengthen but also watch as it drained her energy. A month of chemotherapy and a few weeks of radiation and my

Despite significant advances in research, Breast Cancer is still the most common cancer, affecting both men and especially women. In the US, 232, 670 new cases of invasive breast cancer were expected to be diagnosed along 62,570 new cases of non-invasive breast cancer in women and about 2,360 new cases of invasive breast cancer were expected to be diagnosed in men in just 2014 .

It all started when I received a phone call from my mother in 1998. She had recently been diagnosed with breast cancer. I was grief stricken, and prayed she would get through this terrible ordeal. Nineteen years later, and she is in remission and doing great. Fast forward to 2007. I was active duty military and had not been getting my mammograms as recommended because of the high risk of breast cancer, or any cancer for that matter. I was stationed in Colorado Springs, at the Air Force Academy. I scheduled the mammogram due to soreness and an unusual lump in my left breast. (Teresa Harris).

Everything in life can be associated with a color, happiness is a bright and inviting yellow, while sadness could be a dull and dismal grey. One afternoon, my twin brother, Chris, and I were sitting on the couch, smiling and laughing with one another. Vibrant shades of yellows and oranges surrounded us and made me feel safe and at ease. Our parents walked into the living room with somber looks on their faces, my mother looked upset. That was the day I found out my mother had been diagnosed with Breast Cancer. The Russell’s lifestyle was challenged now with a horrible plague my mother was burdened with. The prominent color present in the house went from a warm red to a darker shade, a color I associate with the threat of death. Something about that didn’t sit well with me.

The principle of autonomy states; “individuals have the right to make choices about their own lives” (Kozier et al, 2010.p.79). In health care, this means health care providers must honour the person’s right to choose methods or approaches to diagnosis or treatment (Kozier et al, 2010). Moreover, by not giving the client, the right to make her own decision this could cause anxiety and physiological effect to both parties. Which disregard the World Health Organization (WHO), definition of quality end of life care as the "active total care of patients whose disease is not responsive to curative treatment" (Sepúlveda, Marlin, Yoshida, & Ullrich, 2002). This definition includes meeting the psychological, social, and spiritual needs for both patients and families (Sepúlveda et al, 2002). In addition, the nurse did not put the beneficence principle in action, which “is the obligation to do good” (Kozier et al, 2010, p.80). Nurses have a duty to implement actions that benefit their client’s best interest (Kozier et al, 2010). It lays the groundwork for trust that society places in nursing professional, and provides nursing’s context and justification (Burkhardt & Nathaniel, 2002). This principle seems straight forward, but it is actually very complex. Should we determine what is good- by subjective, or by objective, means? So, when people disagree about what is good, whose opinion counts? In this case, the client, and not the family because she has the

The case of ethical dilemma concerns a fifty-year old woman who was admitted in the hospital complaining of vomiting, indigestion and weight loss signs and symptoms. After conducting barium X-Ray and gastroscopy it was found out by doctors that the patient was suffering from malignant kind of gastric carcinoma and hence further diagnosis and treatment will have to be conducted in relation to the disease the patient was suffering from. Doctors suggested a palliative surgery for reducing stenosis but felt it before time to disclose this information to the patient which was cemented after proper consultation with the patient’s husband who said that her wife would overreact in a situation like this as she had a phobia regarding tumors and cancer diseases.

Cancer doesn’t win. Cancer isn’t the victor, it’s the loser. Cancer’s purpose it to test our strengths, to see how far it can take us before we quit, its all a battle, and how it turns out in the end is completely by our view. People don’t lose to cancer, it losses to us. It’s all about how we fought it off. It should be about how we won it. For only four years in my life I have been able to speak to my grandma Judy, she died when I was only a child, so meeting her is only a few memories of many years ago. My Grandma was short, red curly hair, and a woman of many victories. I know that she was a true hero, victor, and a winner of many things, but most importantly, she was influential in life. She realized it wasn’t about winning it all, but overcoming her problems and adversities to reach her goals.