Author: Dr. Dan Silverberg
I want to tell you about Jack and Maryanne (names are changed to protect privacy). Jack died a few months ago at the age of 86 of cardiac disease.
Twenty-three years ago I removed Jack’s urinary bladder for extensive bladder cancer. Without surgery, he would have died of bladder cancer within just a year or two. This surgery is one of the most complex operations we perform as urologists. The patient's body is changed forever. For the rest of his life, Jack wore a bag on his abdomen to collect his urine. A patient's decision to undergo this surgery is never an easy one, even when staring cancer in the face. Following the surgery, Jack made a successful recovery and lived for many years in good health.
I received a note from his widow recently. It reads, in part, as follows:
Dear Dr. Silverberg and Staff,
Thank you so much for your expression of sympathy.
I also want to thank you for the wonderful care you and your staff gave Jack.
Dr. Silverberg thanks to you, Jack and I had 23 additional years together. In 1989 you told us that without the surgery Jack would have a year or two at the most. If Jack would allow you to remove his bladder, he would live for many years and die from something else.
You were so right.
Fondly Maryanne
This note reminds us beautifully that we do not just take care of patients. We take care of real people. They have families who love them. They have hopes and dreams for the future. When we give them an additional 23 years of life, they have the time to see their children grow to adulthood. They have that time to enjoy their grandchildren. They have the time to pursue and realize their hopes and dreams.
After all of the time we spend in the office, after all the time spent in the hospital, after all the time that we spend being doctors and nurses and medical assistants and office staff, the success of our work is measured by the extra years of life that we give to our patients.
