Interesting experience this week

It is never a rare case to see some patients with breast cancer in radiology department. During the past weeks, I have written about two cases with breast cancer or breast cancer history in my post. This week, an especially interesting case came in, and gave me some brand-new insights into healthcare.

This is a 44-year-old breast cancer patient coming in with a bright blue scarf wrapped around head, which is undergoing hair loss due to the radiation therapy. I talked with her for a while she was waiting for the scan. Different from some other patients, I found her very cheerful throughout the short chat. Rattling super happily and proudly on her twins, she almost made me forget she was actually a cancer patient. The surprising thing happened at the time when I found out she actaully came to do an abdomen scan rather than a chest scan. Was this for checking the possible metastasis? I thought this way at first. But things just surprised me more when I gradually noticed the technicians paid more attention to some abdominal blood vessels. At last the most elucidating yet surprising thing came when I was told she was actually doing this scan for the susceptabilty test of a breast reconstruction surgery.

I know this is still confusing so let me explain more. Obviously this optimistic lady had not underwent a surgery to take out the breast cancer yet. She was doing the radiation therapy right now to suppress the cancer cells, so that they won't metastasize so easily post surgery. At the same time, she was also worried that she won't look so good after the excision of breast and DIEP Flap Breast Reconstruction technology came at the right time. Her surgeons planned to carry out two surgeries - mastectomy and breast reconstruction - on her at the same time, but before that, they need to make sure that her perforator vessels are still intact so that they are able to function as the internal mammary blood vessels later. She was very happy to learn the good news that day: her perforator vessels look super good even after the incision in C-section many years ago.

For me, this story totally refreshed my idea about the role of surgery in healthcare. In my old memory, surgery is always related with pain, wound and scar; surgery happens when medicine fails. However, this time just imagining nowadays patients can actually choose to combine resection with orthopaedics, I am totally overwhelmed. You can get cure and beauty at the same time - one stone two birds - isn't it fantastic?

Of course I understand that this technology must also be very controversial. Just like people would even argue whether this is worthy and safe to create an artificial beauty through orthopaedics, DIEP Flap Breast Reconstruction on a cancer patient is also risky. Recovery from two surgeries is definitely slower, not to mention the underlying risk to keep some breast tissues near lesions for better reconstruction. The fact is, ethic problems always come with healthcare. Nevertheless, the hope for benefiting more from medical technology never dies. Medical care is not all about elongating one's life. It also helps improving the quality of life, and the way we look at life and ourselves. There is nothing more important than that patients find health care help their lives and be happy about it. And I think the impressing part of this case just lies in that it teaches me the function of healthcare CAN be not only for physical well-being, but also spiritual welfare.