<Positive Attitude Award>
When I first stepped into the patient room, Ms. R greeted both Dr. Chae and me with a warm welcome. We were there to discuss her recent CT scan; her left adrenal metastatic nodule increased in size from 13 to 16mm. She was a bit worried about the change in tumor size at first, but when Dr. Chae started talking about stereotactic body radiation therapy, she became more engaged in the conversation. She wanted to be more “aggressive” against her cancer and when Dr. Chae said that this is a proactive approach to dealing with the nodule, she stopped and said, “I like that word…proactive.”
While listening in to the conversation, I was thinking, ‘Wow, this person is really positive-minded!’ (this was before I found out about the award). During our interaction, she said that she was gaining weight and began controlling her diet. She said that she studied nutritional science and took pride in the fact that all of her family members are fit and healthy. And I thought this woman was indeed proactive about her health. She wasn’t discouraged when the nodule increased in size, and she took initiative in maintaining good health in order to keep on receiving treatments; she was a great model for other patients.
At the end of our meeting, she showed us a tray of muffins she brought - it was a token of her appreciation for his team that has been so kind and welcoming. After some time, Dr. Chae and his team stepped into the room and gave her a ‘positive attitude award,’ thanking her for being such a wonderful patient. She appreciated the award and said that she will show this to her children when she is cured; she didn’t tell her five children about her diagnosis yet. She explained to the team that she had quintuplets but one died at a young age, and had another child. They are now all adults and busy with their children, so she didn’t want to put more burden on them. This story was news to many members of the team and I was amazed at how she was able to be this positive and proactive without the support from all her family members. Under her positive attitude, there was a struggle and hardship she faced alone. I believe this is something that doctors should keep in mind when seeing patients. There is always a different kind of struggle happening in each and every one of us and we, as doctors, have to be mindful of that.
After everyone left, she stopped me to ask about the possible side effects from the radiation treatment because she experienced difficulty swallowing after her last radiation treatment. I explained to her that the location of the treatment is different and that the radiologist will be able to give detailed information regarding her treatment. She was about to ask another question when she stopped herself and said ‘I just got a positive attitude award. I should be more positive!’ We both laughed and said our good-byes. I thought she indeed deserves this award, and I hope that one day she can show this award to her children and grandchildren with many great stories.
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