James “Rhio” O’Connor is an extraordinary gentleman. He showed all of us that with determination anything is possible. The will to live will overcome any obstacle. Individuals like him make it possible for society to develop techniques that focuses on prolonging lives. The most important role leaders of societies play are to prolong lives of their member. This is what Rhio did so I consider him to be a leader and a philosopher.
The challenges James “Rhio” O’Connor faced was extraordinary, I wonder if I will have the strength to overcome it like he did. If I was to face the same challenges, what I will do, will be similar to what he did. I think with access to internet, the first thing I will do is to search online to obtain all relevant information from health professional and patient perspective. I will also visit different types of health professionals like doctors, nurses, and patient aides. I will find books in library that particularly talks about my prognosis.
My search online for health professional documentation will focus particularly on my prognosis but while my search for patients will not focus only on patients with cancer or with my type of cancer, it will also focus on patients without cancer but have similar pains as I. I will search medical journals, medical research and other medical sites that explain my particular type of cancer and different therapies that might help. In terms of patient’s perspective, I will look at various patient forums or other sites that discuss various types of illness. Cancer caused people to suffer not just one illness but several illnesses in different part of their body. My search is to find people that may or may not have cancer but suffer similar illnesses as me. I will study therapies they use to manage those illnesses and how it might benefit me. I will consider using those therapies myself. The next step is to visit different doctors for opinion. If all feedbacks I’m receiving from doctors are similar like if all state that death is imminent then I put my focus on nurses and patient’s assistance caring for patients with dire cancer. I think nurses and patient’s assistance are more able to understand patient’s perspective about treatments being used. Nurses and patient’s assistances are always with the patient so they more likely than doctors to develop bond with patients. Patients may share certain information with them about how doctor’s recommended treatments make them feel. Patients something will not share this information with their doctors because they feel their doctors know better than them.
I will form a group session in order to bring patients with cancer together in one room to discuss their prognosis. They and I will discuss our cancer and therapies each of us use. We discuss if we feel our therapies work or not and how it makes us feel. Therapies being used a doctor recommended therapies or are they alternatives therapies.
I will look beyond chemo, radiation and surgery if they had little to offer. My therapies will consist of several treatments. I will use alternative therapies suggested by different doctors I visited. I will also use what I discover that works on similar illnesses and what I learn from nurses and patient’s assistances that help their patients. My goal is to prolong my life as much as possible in order to share more memories with my family. What I learn from other patients will play essential role on which therapy I decide to use. I think patient’s output is so important because they are in a position to get the best information. Therapies are being done to their body so they know how therapies react to their body better than anyone else.
By: Okoye, Ebuka
