Open Letter from The Regional Oncologist Velvil Mirochnik
For almost 40 years now,
every morning, I walk down to this gray, brick building – the convergence for
pain, sadness and overwhelming happiness. You
are probably wondering why I used such an emotional word to describe a regular
medical center, where I work as the deputy director. Here’s the answer: cancer
was the cruel and harsh whip of the 20th century, and even in the 21st
century, it still plagues the world.
When one is diagnosed with cancer, it causes great stress, fear, and pain. From
that moment everything a person had in his life becomes very questionable. The
next stage of analysis and final diagnosis turns into an even harder process for
the patient, because it brings more painful questions.
What will the final diagnosis be? How fatal is it? What is the possible
treatment? The list of questions seems endless. And finally, it’s so exciting
to see the patient’s euphoria if the cancer diagnosis was not confirmed or if
some kind of promising treatment was offered, whether it is surgery or
chemotherapy, and it leads the patient to expect a successful conclusion.
This feeling of happiness increases after the treatment brings the long
awaited recovery.
I simply can’t get used to perceiving my patients as being just sick
people. I always try to get to know
their personality - their sorrows and troubles.
I believe that only if the doctor and the patient have the same
disposition, the treatment can be successful.
Our cancer clinic is located in an old German building, built in
1928. The original purpose of the
building was not intended to house patients, so needles to say there is very
little accommodation for the patients and staff.
Most of the equipment is old, and there are not enough finances to fix
it. Also, in June of 2001 we had a
fire, and half of the building burned, where gynecological and radiological
units were located. The surgical
unit also suffered considerable damage. The
building is almost repaired, but to do that we had to spend our entire annual
budget.
We do not have any money for medical equipment. At the end of 2001 we had
13,578 patients. In 2001 we had 2,730 patients who were diagnosed with cancer
for the first time. There are 62.5% of our patients who did not have recurrences
and metastasis during a 5-year period. In Kaliningrad region we have ranked the
following cancers in order of mortality rate.
First place goes to lung cancer, second place goes to breast cancer, but
for women breast cancer takes first place, in third place we have colon cancer,
fourth place goes to cancer of rectum and the large intestine.
It’s always disappointing because a part of our patients turn to
professional help too late when the disease is in its advanced stage. This makes
the treatment harder and it does not always work. It’s very emotionally
draining when we fail. We will be very thankful for any kind of help that will
give us a chance to improve upon the quality of treatment and life of our
patients.
Signature,
Velvil
Mirochnik
* For almost 40 years now, 5 times a week Velvil
Mirochnik performs surgeries on tumors: stomach, lung, rectum, large intestine,
etc.
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