Wednesday, June 21, 2006

Poor Babies..

Lately I have seen few small kids with cancer in the clinic. I feel sad to see patients with malignant cancer especially those in late stage or advanced stage with distant metastasis elsewhere, and it is even more heartbreaking seeing the little ones, especially the little babies down with the diseases. Leukaemia, lymphoma and brain tumour are few of the more common cancer in children. Others rare tumours in childhood are such as Wilm's tumour, Erwing sarcoma, neuroblastoma etc. (Generally, the incidence of cancer in children are low). But since I work in the tertiary or referral hospital, I will see more of these cases.

Recently, I have seen two little babies with Neuroblastoma (tumour of the sympathetic nervous system). The first one is a one month old baby (yeah, only 1 month old !!) and the second one is a 9 months old baby. The tumour in the second baby is Stage 4S whereby it has metastasize/spread to his brain and liver. The poor child is undergoing chemotherapy at the moment. Chemotherapy has lotsa side effects (during the treatment process and the side effect is temporary) and the side effects are intolerable even in many adults (different people will have different reaction) - with fatigue, lost of appetite, nausea and vomiting, diarrhoea, constipation, hair loss, mouth ulcer, anaemia, reduced resistance to infection etc. Imaging this small baby at such a young age have to undergo chemotherapy… :(

29 comments:

L B said...

I was just reading an article this morning on the Star online about a teenager with some cancer thing, requesting help from the general public. It's sad. We've so much to be thankful for, when our health is still good... (ok, missing one tentacle..)

Chen said...

lb,
yeah, we should not take things for granted.. I have see many young people with cancer nowadays.. Malignant breast cancer at the age of early twenties, malignant cervical cancer at the age of mid twenties, malignant bowel cancer at the late twenties etc..

I guess my dog has makan your missing tentacle :P

Vagabonder said...

Ai, that's sad. I guess with your profession, you have seen many things that broke your heart...babies and animals are the most vulnerable ones because when they are sick, they can even say that it hurts them

Anonymous said...

Sad sad sad...
*cries*
Y Y Y,
I like baby...
Next time must email doc doc liao
Get help tips... make sure everi 1 healthy healthy
*sobs*

rainbow angeles said...

:'(

Chen said...

thao,
that's true.. when the baby is sick or feel uncomfortable, he/she can't point out the site of discomfort except crying :(

zeroimpact,
aiyoh.. i can't prevent cancer leh..
The most I can tell u are what are the sign & symptoms to look for.

angel,
yeah loh... so sad.
the second case is in very bad shape :(

L B said...

I hope your nice Min enjoyed it, and didn't sustain any damage, cos I am unable to pay for any silicon treatment as a result of that..

Mei said...

I'm doing paediatrics at a tertiary, major children's hospital now. Imagine how I feel. :(

super rare brain tumours that I haven't even heard of.. and children with disability. damn saddd...

a^ben said...

aiyeh` so cham` ai.. like that i better stick to the adorable kids in my school` hahahha

day-dreamer said...

How saddening.

Those kids are innocent. I mean, they haven't come to the stage where they smoke or what...

God bless them.

Anonymous said...

saat...
Then doc doc teach boy boy ah
then boy boy can help others
:)
*bows*
respects sifu

Chen said...

lb,
he enjoys it very much :)
silicon treatment? huh?
i'm confused :)

mei,
I prefer treating adult patients than paediatric patients :) At least in adult I can get the history easily and no hassle in setting lines or taking blood :)

ben,
Err... I remember that day u said u want to knock the kid's head with violin leh :P

Chen said...

day dreamer,
yeah. I leave aside cancer. There are many paediatric patients out there with other problems as well.. And one of the more common one is kidney problems.. :(

SA,
Thanks, SA. Some medical practitioners are immune to those medical conditions cos it's something common and has become part & parcle of their lives..

zero impact,
Pass boiboi a big medical textbook for boiboi to digest slowly :)

Anonymous said...

I always felt it's so unfair to see little ones born & suffer much in this state.

is self-volunteered death (i.e putting into sleep) legal in such circumstances??? it's so painful & heartbreaking to see them suffering.

sometimes, i actually wonder if earth is really heaven & hell.

Chen said...

slurp,
U mean euthanasia? AFAIK, this is not legal. Unless the patient is in very bad shape or critical condition and if he/she deteriorate further in general condition, one can opt for DNR or Do Not Resuscitate . Eutahnasia are still not practised here..

iml said...

It's so heartbreaking to see children so young crying in pain. Unaware and helpless to what is happening to them

Anonymous said...

Wah
so thick ah...
*faints*

Chen said...

iml,
Many times, when the small kids cry (especially when taking blood time), the mother will cry or drop tears as well..

It’s heartbreaking for us to see the small kids with malignancy, it’s even more heartbreaking for the kid’s parent :( Parents will sacrifice & do everything for their children..

zeroimpact,
aiyah.. how can u leant if u dowan to put in effort who ? :P
Sacrifice a bit lah…

sengkor said...

dr, pls help them..

Anonymous said...

Thick is 1 thing lo
Terms they use... errrr
*faints again*

gus said...

Work gets to you, most of the times. And sometimes depression follows you home. I get sad seeing people in dire need on the streets, I can't be at the hospital.

We always talk about prevention but that is really impossible in the real world. Most have no choice.

Chen said...

sengkor,
If possible we want to heal them and made them healthy. If the disease is too advanced and beyond cure, then we will give supportive treatment to improve the life quality..

zeroimpact,
Err.. u forgotten about the Medical Dictionary? Don’t curi tulanglah…
U can always check up there if u don’t understand the weird terminology. LOL

*Don't pengsan so frequent* ;)

agus,
Lotsa things are beyond our control.. Prevention is indeed better than cure, but as you say, not everything can be prevented. That’s life…

Just like I have seen patients who never smoke but get lung cancer… :( Although one doesn’t smoke, the risk of getting lung cancer is still there cos of inhaling the “second hand” smoke from other smokers, which we normally refer to as “passive smoker”.

Babe_KL said...

how sad :(

c a r c a r said...

this remind me of one of my former colleague here in singapore, her baby girl passed away at the age of 8 mths, if im not mistaken..

so sad...

Anonymous said...

Wokay...
Put on thick learning glasses...
holds up 2 feet high terminology handbook...
*falls asleep...*

iml said...

When Mei at 5 years of age. was running a high fever for a week, the nurses had to hold her down screaming and crying just to take a blood sample. I was told to leave the room. It was so heartbreaking. I cried.

Chen said...

babekl,
:(

carcar,
I have few colleagues' babies who passed away as well :( Lotsa times things are out of our control..

zeroimpact,
piak u with sotong.. u not serious to study one..

IML,
I know.. I dislike setting lines or branula or taking blood in paediatric patients too.

Anonymous said...

*holds ears*
*sniff sniff*
concentrate again!

Chen said...

zeroimpact,
yeah loh.. lidat oni good boi..
holding one sotong standing behind your back. If u curi tulang, I will piak u with sotong :P (Sotong is indeed a very useful tool, right?)