Judge Rules Family Can't Refuse Chemo for Child With Cancer

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PeteyGirl said:
I tried to watch the video but the family's discomfort was too much for me!

Don't people get reimbursed for their interviews? Otherwise I get the impression they want to be left alone, and never did want this media hullaballoo anywhere near them.

I am an oncology nurse, barely so. I completed the requisite year of experience, and went to the classes to get certified to administer chemo. After giving two rounds now, I had to wrench myself from the patient's bedside, afraid to leave them, knowing the volatile chemicals and what they are capable of doing, in theory. We wear gowns, gloves and masks when administering chemo to protect OURSELVES. Exposure to these chemicals over time has shown to produce leukemias.

I have posted on this thread before. I still stand by my words then but with a new insight. If nurses gowned up to pour chemicals into MY son, the contradiction would set off all kinds of terror in me, in SPITE of my education as a nurse (18 years worth) and as a new oncology nurse.
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BBM...I agree that it is a scary thing. Sitting with my friend at her chemo appointments, she always joked that the aliens were coming. Her chemo was especially toxic and the nurses had to wear those plastic face shields, gowns, and double gloves to administer it to her.

BUT she knew enough to know that, while she was there for one dose every two weeks, those nurses were potentially exposed dozens of times every day. Just like an occasional x-ray does more good than harm, it would be irresponsible for the x-ray tech to be unprotected over and over and over again.

I keep going back to the fact that this family seems very sheltered and not entirely logical. I still wonder if the parents were raised the same way. How much education and exposure to "normal" life do they have? That would explain a LOT to me.
 
I keep going back to the fact that this family seems very sheltered and not entirely logical. I still wonder if the parents were raised the same way. How much education and exposure to "normal" life do they have? That would explain a LOT to me.
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We bring people in for their induction chemotherapies and spend hours explaining it to them. Depending upon where people are "coming from" . . . their attitudes toward authority, life and death, whether or not they are inherently trusting or untrusting, we teach them and adjust our teaching accordingly. When a family comes in that has an inherent "distrust", for whatever reason, for the "modern world" which must look CRAZY to them, we end up spending most of our time earning their trust. Much less of our time goes into explaining the disease process and how chemo works.

We have to establish a base of safety FIRST before any of that gobbletygook about chemo and cell division and side effects is going to be even RELEVANT to them.

Sometimes, with certain cancers, there IS no time to establish a basis for trust if it isn't there. Like I said before, between diagnosis and first chemo can be hours, a day at most.

It sounds like this family entered the system without an inherent trust in modern medicine, and they were given no time to develop a trust. Not because "we" proceeded without regard for them, but because the boy's condition needed treatment RIGHT NOW, if he was going to be cured. Their inherent lack of trust could not be addressed because his condition was emergent.

I don't know what we can do about this. Nothing, probably. People will always be what they are, for reasons that make sense if you know them well enough. This will happen again and again. In retrospect, the parents should NOT be punished for lack of cooperation. I do agree with the court proceedings, however. But with a certain reservation, and a better understanding of the parents.
 
PeteyGirl said:
We bring people in for their induction chemotherapies and spend hours explaining it to them. Depending upon where people are "coming from" . . . their attitudes toward authority, life and death, whether or not they are inherently trusting or untrusting, we teach them and adjust our teaching accordingly. When a family comes in that has an inherent "distrust", for whatever reason, for the "modern world" which must look CRAZY to them, we end up spending most of our time earning their trust. Much less of our time goes into explaining the disease process and how chemo works.

We have to establish a base of safety FIRST before any of that gobbletygook about chemo and cell division and side effects is going to be even RELEVANT to them.

Sometimes, with certain cancers, there IS no time to establish a basis for trust if it isn't there. Like I said before, between diagnosis and first chemo can be hours, a day at most.

It sounds like this family entered the system without an inherent trust in modern medicine, and they were given no time to develop a trust. Not because "we" proceeded without regard for them, but because the boy's condition needed treatment RIGHT NOW, if he was going to be cured. Their inherent lack of trust could not be addressed because his condition was emergent.

I don't know what we can do about this. Nothing, probably. People will always be what they are, for reasons that make sense if you know them well enough. This will happen again and again. In retrospect, the parents should NOT be punished for lack of cooperation. I do agree with the court proceedings, however. But with a certain reservation, and a better understanding of the parents.
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Thanks for your terrific perspective and insight, PeteyGirl. It is greatly appreciated.
:)
 
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/36059044/ns/health-cancer/

"Daniel Hauser of Sleepy Eye had his 14th birthday Friday, and family spokesman Dan Zwakman says he remains in remission."

SNIP

"But he says Daniel's hair has lost its bright red color, and the family thinks the chemo is why he needs glasses."

Well, I started needing glasses at the age of 9 and had never had chemo! Maybe it could be a cause, I have no idea, but lots of people need corrective lenses without having had chemo. I've heard stories about people's hair growing in different after chemo, though, so I guess that part could be true.

I'm glad he's still in remission. Maybe the longer he goes without having any more problems, the more comfortable he can become with what happened. Here's hoping.
 
His hair could have lost its bright red color thru maturation, regardless of any chemo treatments...same as the need for corrective lenses.

Such changes are so minor...thankfully, Daniel is alive and doing well.
 
Honestly, these people slay me.

While I totally agree that hair change/glasses could have come along anyway, maybe it is true that the chemo did it. But isn't that an incredibly minor price to pay for your son's life???
 
I wasn't following this post when it was started but did follow the case some & while I understood where the parents were coming from; I also did not understand why they wouldn't do it because the type of cancer he had was one they could stop; and where the percentage was high. I know someone that had it; he is living a full life; treatment did not stop his ability to father a child.

I'm glad he's in remission.
.
 
angelmom said:
Honestly, these people slay me.

While I totally agree that hair change/glasses could have come along anyway, maybe it is true that the chemo did it. But isn't that an incredibly minor price to pay for your son's life???
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ABSOLUTELY! I had long straight blonde hair before chemo at 11 yrs old. and after chemo had dark curly hair. While I don't have proof that any of my later in life health problems were caused by chemo...if they were, it was worth it.

Bless him and I hope he continues to remain in remission until the day he can be considered cured.
 
lizzybeth said:
ABSOLUTELY! I had long straight blonde hair before chemo at 11 yrs old. and after chemo had dark curly hair. While I don't have proof that any of my later in life health problems were caused by chemo...if they were, it was worth it.

Bless him and I hope he continues to remain in remission until the day he can be considered cured.
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(((lizzybeth))) you truly understand. So sorry you had to go through that!

As my Gram used to say about birthdays, it's better than the alternative!
 
I heard this on the news the other day. So strange that both father and son have leukemia. I wonder if there is something where they live that might make someone predisposed to this?
 
It makes me think of that young woman who is some kind of editor at Glamour (I forget her name). She got leukemia and both of her sisters also had some form of cancer.

Could be environment, could be genetic, I guess. Weird.
 
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