Saturday, December 10, 2011

What do I want to do if I have one more day to live?

What Do I want to do If I  Have One More Day to Live?

I am not talking about investment today. One end stage renal failure patient asked me " Do you feel my pain Dr Goh? " Yes, we are too busy sometimes and tend to forget what people think most relevant to them in life!

I am a nephrologist, what I hope to achieve is to prolong end stage renal failure patients' lives. I start them on dialysis because I know that will be the best way to prolong thier lives. But occasionally I forget to ask what actually patients want when they are old and frail.

One of my patients told me, he didn't want dialysis, he was old enough ( he was 76 years old) to make a informed decision. What he wanted was to spend the rest of his life with his children and grandchildren. He didn't want to waste the precious remaining time he had to do fistula or even finding a dialysis centre.

" Dr Goh HK, I spent half of life making money, but when you know you have an illness, I think money is nothing. What I want to do is just spending time with my family."

I am not sure about whether it is worthwhile sacrificing your time ( =life?) making tones of money. Maybe one day you would ask yourself, " What do I want to do if I have one more day to live?"