Paper Example. Addressing the Needs of the Patients and Their Families

Colon cancer is prevalent among the elderly above 80 years of age globally. The patients have to undergo various treatments for the disease to be cured. The treatment approach may be either surgical or curative, but both methods have proved to increase the chances of survival. According to Van Erning et al. (2017), surgery is the most effective to heal colon cancer. Palliative chemotherapy is also useful in preventing the outgrowth of the tumors. In the case of Mrs. Adams, her health may deteriorate faster despite being functional. Deferring all her treatments will only worsen her condition and become difficult to treat at later stages of the infection (Ko et al., 2016). Therefore, if Mrs. Adams does not undergo any colon cancer treatment, her life expectancy will reduce, and die in less than two years.

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Mrs. Adams may be very competent at the age of 96, but she does not have to do her daily chores. It is healthy to be active as it helps keep fit, but a personal assistant is needed to assist in shopping and carrying out house chores (Liu et al., 2019). However, it may be challenging to convince her that she needs extra help. However, the health practitioners need to explain to her that she needs extra help since she is aging. Therefore, employing another personal assistant rather than the driver will help take care of the lady. Also, the lady should choose a treatment plan for colon cancer. If she is not comfortable with the surgery treatment, she should undergo the therapeutic method. Also, the nurses should advise her on the dangers of deferring treatment at her vulnerable age.

The lady's only family that is left is her only son, who tends to support his elderly mother in her treatment decisions. The son could be worried about insisting on treatment that his mother does not want. However, supporting her in avoiding the doctors' treatment plan does not improve her life, but rather the decision is deteriorating her health outcome (Van Erning et al., 2017). The only way to support the son's needs is by discussing Mrs. Adam's health outcomes. He needs to know the consequences of deferring medication and the benefits of the treatment. That is the only way to support him regarding his mother's health outcome.

References

Ko, J. J., Kennecke, H. F., Lim, H. J., Renouf, D. J., Gill, S., Woods, R., ... & Cheung, W. Y. (2016). Reasons for underuse of adjuvant chemotherapy in elderly patients with stage III colon cancer. Clinical Colorectal Cancer, 15(2), 179-185.

Liu, Z., Mahale, P., & Engels, E. A. (2019). Sepsis and risk of cancer among elderly adults in the United States. Clinical Infectious Diseases, 68(5), 717-724.

Van Erning, F. N., JanssenHeijnen, M. L. G., Creemers, G. J., Pruijt, J. F. M., Maas, H. A. A. M. & Lemmens, V. E. P. P. (2017). Recurrencefree and overall survival among elderly stage III colon cancer patients treated with CAPOX or capecitabine monotherapy. International journal of cancer, 140(1), 224-233.