When finishing his period of duty, Ha Hai Nam, a specialist level 2 doctor at K Hospital in Hanoi, reviewed the medical record of N.T.H, 76, who had been treated for colon cancer for a year. The woman had undergone 27 radiation treatments, followed by surgery and chemotherapy.

When she was informed about her disease, she asked Nam: “How much more time do I have? Will surgery help?”.

The woman was in good mental health and was knowledgeable about health issues. Nam gave her detailed advice about how to deal with the disease, treatment regimen, possible complications, and side effects. The woman agreed to be hospitalized immediately. After one year of treatment, her condition has become better. H is now a member of clubs of cancer patients, relating her story about how to struggle with cancer to transmit positive energy to other patients.

N.T.M, 85, from Thai Binh is another inspiring character. When informing M that she has colon cancer, K Hospital’s doctors believed that the woman needed an operation to treat the disease. 

However, her relatives refused the operation, saying that she was too old to undergo such major surgery. They believed that it would be better to bring her to her hometown, where she could spend the last days of her life with children and grandchildren, rather than ‘die on the operating table’. In their thoughts, oriental medicine was more suitable in this case.

But M unexpectedly told the doctors: “Give me surgery”.

On the day before the surgery, doctors transmitted three units of blood to M. And she herself mixed three packets of powder into a 3-liter bottle to clean her intestines. While young patients grimaced as they had to drink this liquid, she quietly drank it to the dregs quickly and calmly awaited the major surgery.

Doctor Pham Van Binh, deputy director of K Hospital, said patients aged 70-80 tend to refuse treatments as they believe that they will be unhelpful. However, many modern surgical techniques suitable for the elderly can bring good effects.

Linh Trang