You Pierced Your What, Son!?

Pearls:

• We can help patients with terminal illnesses realize that they are not bound by their disease and can find meaning in life beyond just  getting well.

• Claire Wineland is 20 year-old nationally renowned public speaker with cystic fibrosis

• She has spent nearly a quarter of her life in hospitals and now offers powerful insight into what it is like to live with a terminal illness

• Healthcare workers tend to view patients in terms of their illness (i.e. the 9-year-old with appendicitis)

• Patients with terminal illness can find empowerment through study and ownership of their own illness

• Taking ownership of one’s physical space in the hospital (i.e. decorating a hospital room) can create a safe and comfortable environment

• Doctors should encourage patients to create space to live a rich and fulfilling lives outside of the treatment of their disease and to discourage fixation on just “getting better”

• It does a disservice to our patients to support the idea that one cannot live a fulfilling life until they are healthy

• We can help terminally ill patients realize their dreams in the time that they have left because there may never come a time where their disease is better than it is right now