May 2019
Don
Schleifer
,
RN, CHPN
Pain Management
Cancer Treatment Centers of America at Eastern Regional Medical Center
Philadelphia
,
PA
United States
There was a patient and caregiver (CG) in Oncology Immediate Care Clinic (OICC) one day. The patient was able to attend her daughter's baby shower over the weekend and appeared to be doing very well. When the patient arrived in OICC on Monday morning, she was febrile and appeared very frail. After discussion with her oncologist, it was determined that the patient was no longer a candidate for cancer-directed therapy. The caregiver could not understand how this was possible after the great weekend the patient had with her family. Don, who works in pain management, was walking by and saw how distressed the CG was. He sat down with the CG and offered emotional support to him. He was able to explain, in a way more understandable to the CG, of the patient's disease progress. Don sat with the CG and cried and prayed with him for about an hour. The CG said this journey has been the hardest thing he has ever had to do and prior to talking to Don he was uncertain if he would be able to emotionally handle it. Upon leaving, he hugged Don and thanked him for listening and offering him the explanations and support he needed.