I.
One day at the beginning of the year of the Snake, my mother, a 70-year-old woman, told me in a worried voice: "Mom doesn't feel well, my chest is a bit pained, fluid is coming and bleeding".
So my mother went to the clinic, after showing doctors at Hanoi Oncology Hospital, and temporarily concluded: The possibility of early stage breast cancer. However, my mother could not intervene immediately due to high blood pressure, and an unstable heartbeat. "She came back for a check-up and stabilized her blood pressure, her heart rate, and then continued to study" - the doctor said. Then there was a long, rather tense streak of days. My mother tried not to seem worried or sad, but I knew she was insomnia.
A few weeks later, after a blood pressure check-up, my heart was examined and I took the right medicine. My mother suggested going to K - Tan Trieu Hospital for examination and treatment because it was close to her home. Despite the information and prediction, I still felt unable to believe that so many patients were being examined for cancer. At 6am, the hospital's lobby A was packed with people. Ninh - a girl from Hanoi who got married in Nam Dinh - came to take care of her mother and K told me: "You don't know, there was a time when I had to get my number at 6:30 am... 700, which means 700 people came before me. People come from 3 - 4 am to queue.
My mother was admitted to the emergency room, the doctor concluded: "It needs surgery". My mother's blood pressure increased because it was probably the first time she had to have surgery in her life, which was a tumor, possibly another cancer. However, it was the other patients who first encouraged my mother: " since I entered K Hospital, being in the emergency department was... the easiest. It's a relief, we're still waiting for radiotherapy and surgery this week, but we still have to be happy here."
II.
It turns out that the two words "lazy" that female patients say to my mother are not only for comfort but also for real. I know Huyen, 42 years old, from Quang Tri, who was hospitalized with a backpacking job alone. Huyen said: "I have been here for a week, it must be K, I have to go to see a doctor and take pictures all the time. The treatment process must be long. But I think, even if I am worried, I cannot solve any problem. You need to be happy, know how to accept it to recover quickly." Huyen has not had surgery but she said she believes in the good things in life. Coming here, meeting sisters in the same situation, there are people who are heavier than them but still sing cheerfully, Huyen also reduces her fear of illness. To prove what he said, Huyen took me to the end of the hallway where there was a gym. It is called a gym, but it is no different from a... dance room, a dance room. In the music, about 20 female patients "fresh like flowers" were dancing. Many people still prefer to wear a worn device.
Linh - 19 years old, a patient who had just undergone surgery last week, said after the music had just stopped: "Today is the last night, I would like to allow you to get discharged from the hospital". Perhaps Linh was the youngest patient in the department at that time, the girl was very attention-bled but her eyes were full of resilience. The young lady explained: "It was K's first taste, so I decided to cut both sides, so I was disadvantaged, but Linh was a street vendor, always finding joy for the uncles and aunts here".
For a long time, I have often heard about the role of the spirit in the treatment of cancer. But it was only when I arrived, seeing the joy of the patients that I fully understood the meaning of this. Medical experts say: Mental factors play a very important role and are a factor that greatly affects the patient's lifespan. Some people know they are sick but are still optimistic about living well for a long time, but some people plummeted so much that they could not last until the third month. Many people can say that facilities and treatment costs are the deciding factors, but the difference in survival time comes from the patient's heart.
Why is the spiritual factor so important? Results from experimental studies show that depression and stress (commonly known as stress) affect the growth and spread of tumors. For example, in an experiment, scientists locked mice with cancers in an environment separate from other mice. It is the isolation and loneliness environment that increases depression. The results showed that tumors in these mice tend to grow and metastasize more and faster than when they were still in a normal environment.
I met Dr. Le Hong Quang - Head of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, K - Tan Trieu Hospital. Dr. Quang said: "We try to have a gentle space and create the most comfortable conditions for patients under the conditions allowed. When receiving information about cancer, any of us will feel sad, shocked and consider receiving a "death certificate". Many people tend to change their personality, become careless, bored with life and do not want to communicate with people around them. This is not good for the treatment process. Even the doctors and nurses here try to create a comfortable space for patients.
I remember the latest story, the inspiring story about a patient in Quang Binh asking a doctor to... sing while the doctors were performing a vasoconstriction procedure to treat liver cancer in the operating room. The surgery lasted 45 minutes. The old man kept singing the songs he missed. Although old, the song is sometimes interrupted because of memories, the old man and the music still "ride" each other through serious illness. The online community shared the old man's story with many comments: " Singing overcomes pain", "song to heal" and hoped the old man would recover quickly.
At the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, K - Tan Trieu Hospital, in the late afternoons, I witnessed "karaoke" sessions right in the hallway. There are women and men who have undergone surgery, are in the process of recovering, opening their mobile phones, turning the volume to fullness and... singing. They jokingly said to each other: " Sing to celebrate the return of patients from the operating room and other patients will be on the operating table tomorrow". They wish each other strength, optimism, and all the difficulties and hardships will pass.
III.
My mother's surgery was successful, her health seemed to progress faster. She said that the joy and optimism of female patients, the gentle care of nurses and nurses also made her and other patients no longer afraid when going to the operating table, confident in treating the disease. They sing well, not afraid of a dangerous disease.
I think, it is the voice of determination, of faith and desire for this life.
