The head nurse of the hospice care center allows the patient to complete the last journey of life with dignity
Sun Wenxi checked the physical condition of the inpatient.
Every 30 days, Sun Wenxi will watch about 12 dying patients towards the end of their lives.
She is the head nurse of the Anning Nursing Center of Shougang Hospital of Peking University. Every year, she participates in "ferrying" about a hundred lives suffering from advanced cancer from the dying stage, and then sail to the other side.
In March 2017, Peking University Shougang Hospital Anning Care Center was formally established. This is the first peaceful care center set up in a tertiary general hospital in mainland China. Up to now, more than 400 patients with terminal malignant tumors have been received here.
Seven years ago, Sun Wenxi, who had the belief in "saving the dead and helping the wounded," became a "white angel" as she wished. But now, she has been "sending the end" but cannot witness the patient being cured and discharged.
Tranquility care, also known as hospice care and palliative therapy. Sun Wenxi said, “Patients who come here no longer receive chemotherapy, large-scale examinations, tumor resection surgery and other treatment methods. Instead, comfortable care, psychological and spiritual support, etc., alleviate the suffering of patients and help them correctly recognize and treat death. At the same time. Let them complete the last journey of their lives with dignity and without regrets."
"For the patient to die well, learn to let go"
The old man sat on the hospital bed sideways, looking into the distance through the balcony glass window. Outside the window, the Ferris wheel of the Octagonal Amusement Park is slowly spinning.
The evening sun hit the 78-year-old man, and in two and a half hours, he will have the 42nd sunset after moving to A03 with advanced lung cancer. This afternoon, Sun Wenxi passed through ward A03 three times. The old man left her with a back against the light, "Some patients don't like being disturbed."
This is the 14th floor west area of the inpatient building of Peking University Shougang Hospital. In March 2017, the hospital's tranquility care center was officially established in this area. For Sun Wenxi, tranquility care is not about prolonging life, but improving the quality of life of dying patients. “Sometimes, for the patient to die well, we must learn to let go.” But as a medical staff, she didn't understand why she should “let go” at first. This seems to be against ethics.
Sun Wenxi's first contact with dying patients was in the first year of clinical practice. She remembered that the patient's vital signs had disappeared, but the teacher and doctor still asked him to continue his CPR. "It seems to be a mission. Doctors and nurses know that this is'useless work', but it must be done." Sun Wenxi said, "But the patient has no dignity, even if a miracle occurs, he can live a day or two at most. Low quality."
This made Sun Wenxi start to be suspicious of this "rescue method" until she found theoretical support in the "safety treatment", and she was able to inspire.
According to Sun Wenxi, the Anning Nursing Center of the hospital mainly serves advanced patients who do not respond to curative treatment, especially advanced cancer patients. "The center actively controls the patients' symptoms, relieves patients' sufferings through comfort care, psychological and spiritual support, etc., to help them correctly recognize and treat death." Sun Wenxi said.
One ward for one patient
The hospital was preparing to build the Anning Care Center 4 years ago, when Sun Wenxi knew nothing about Anning Care.
In 2016, Sun Wenxi and two other hospital medical staff were dispatched to Mackay Memorial Hospital in Taiwan to "learn the scriptures" for two weeks. This hospital set up the first Anning ward in Taiwan in 1990, and in the same year it also donated to the establishment of the "Anning Care Foundation".
In the peaceful ward of Mackay Memorial Hospital in Taiwan, she was deeply impressed by the piano placed opposite the nurse station, the "sunshine healing room" with glass ceiling, and the small garden where patients can plant flowers and grass. "Quiet and humane, it's not like a ward at all." Sun Wenxi recorded every detail of the "humanistic care" and brought some elements back to Beijing.
On July 22, a reporter from the Beijing News walked into the Anning Care Center of Peking University Shougang Hospital. On the pale blue corridor, every few steps you could see was an abstract painting in warm colors. Two red lanterns with golden blessings are hung at the nurses’ station. A pot of phalaenopsis, a pot of cineraria, and a pot of winter plums are placed on the countertop, all of which are invincible decorations.
The center has 14 wards, distributed on the north and south sides of the nurse station. According to Sun Wenxi, one ward is exclusively for one patient. Each ward has TV, independent bathroom, balcony and other supporting facilities. Some balconies are covered by lawn decorations, or are placed with fake pigeons and white rabbits. On the wall of the room, there are landscape paintings, and medical sockets such as oxygen pipes are "hidden" behind the painting.
There are no rushing steps as seen in other departments, nor can you hear the "gasp" sound of a ventilator. It feels more like a nursing home.
The average patient stay is about one month. Sun Wenxi said, “Generally, it takes about a month to wait in line to make an appointment and move in. Sometimes a patient just leaves in the morning and a new patient moves in in the afternoon.” This means that the nurses have been seeing goodbye all the time, basically without stopping.
"Death" is never a taboo topic here. Sun Wenxi said that almost all the patients staying here know well that coming here means that time is running out.
Listening is a good medicine
On the afternoon of July 22nd, when Sun Wenxi walked into the A02 ward, an old woman was lying in bed. She was 90 years old this year and had advanced lung cancer.
The nurse who took care of her mentioned that the old man had no consciousness below the waist and had to help her turn over several times a day. “The old man has been here for two months and he knows his physical condition very well, but he has a good mentality. He often feels painful every day. Two shots of morphine will be given."
Seeing Sun Wenxi coming in, the old man was very excited, "You came to see me again, you are like my granddaughter." Sun Wenxi held her hand and paused and said, "I am 32 years old, if my grandma is still there. , Is about the same age as you. But my grandma left when she was in her 70s, not as good as you."
"Hey, I actually don't think it's interesting to live that old up to now." The old man squeezed Sun Wenxi's hand, motioned her to come closer, and said softly, "Can I discuss something with you..." When she finished, Sun Wenxi responded quickly: "You want to fix the injection time. The dose of two injections per day is still the same, that is, one injection every 12 hours, right? Okay, I will discuss with Doctor Du later to see if you can adapt. "
Under the new crown epidemic, the inpatient building of the hospital strictly controls the entry of outsiders, and the Anning Care Center has also tightened the visitation policy. Except for special circumstances, family members are generally not allowed to visit. The elderly call and video chat with their families every day. "Other than that, it's just listening to the radio, getting injections, and sleeping." The nurse said that every day she would chat with her grandmother about the housework and talk about recent events.
At the beginning of the establishment of Anning Treatment Center, Sun Wenxi has been exploring how to be a qualified "ferryman" and give patients psychological and spiritual protection. "I later discovered that listening is actually the best comfort at the end of a patient's life." In Sun Wenxi It seems that listening is also a cure for the patient's soul.
She recalled that at the end of 2017, she had come into contact with a "young old man" who was about 60 years old. He was a patient with advanced laryngeal cancer. He was unable to speak because the tumor pressed the vocal cords.
One day, Sun Wenxi went to his ward and talked about the old buildings in Beijing. The old man was suddenly excited. Sun Wenxi quickly brought paper and pen, and the two communicated in this way for half an hour. "The old man painted Deshengmen, Xuanwumen, Caishikou and other places on paper."
Within a few days, the patient passed away. Sun Wenxi was not on duty and could not see him for the last time. A few days later, the patient's nephew made a special trip and brought her a silk scarf. Only then did Sun Wenxi know that the patient had specifically confessed in his last wish that he wanted to give her a silk scarf to show his gratitude.
"Unexpectedly, he would remember me." Sun Wenxi said. Some patients have more profound memories as they die. "Communication and listening are really more important to them than we thought."
The last kindness to life
The tranquility treatment center is not big, the happy atmosphere spreads quickly, and so does the inevitable grief. Once, a patient next door to a patient with advanced gallbladder cancer passed away, and his relatives cried heartbreakingly. After the patient noticed the movement, he asked Sun Wenxi, "Am I going too soon?"
This is the first time Sun Wenxi faced a patient's question about death. She did not avoid this question and asked him, "How do you feel?" He replied, "I feel faster." Sun Wenxi continued to ask, "Then what else do you have now? Wish?"
The patient answered very frankly, saying that everything behind him should be simple and he didn't want to bother the child too much. Sun Wenxi remembered that at that time, the patient's daughter was sitting next to her, crying hard when she heard these words. Sun Wenxi told her in private, "Your father may really be a few days away, so you can accompany him more and talk to him. Wash him again and let him go clean." The next day, the patient's wife She and her daughter cut his nails, washed his hair, and wiped his body.
"One day later, he left. Two days before his death, there were really fewer patients who could clearly express their wishes. He walked with dignity if he could say goodbye, no matter how clean, and leave without regrets. "Sun Wenxi said.
It is not easy to accept death calmly, whether it is for the patient or the family. "But if he knows that he is short on time, he may have the opportunity to choose another way on the last journey, and he may have less regret when he leaves." Sun Wenxi said that personally, she does not recommend concealing the condition of dying patients.
Hospice care in mainland China started late. Sun Wenxi mentioned that every time she bid farewell to a patient, she would sum up some experience. From time to time, she would look through the patient's message book at the nurse station, some of which were gifts from family members, and some of them were messages from patients during their lifetime.
Sun Wenxi said that her favorite sentence is, "Face death is the last kindness to life."
Written in this edition/Beijing News reporter Wu Linshu
This edition of photography/Beijing News reporter Zheng Xinqia