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I have a patient who is a high-caliber high school baseball player who got hit hard by his recent round of chemo - he can't eat or stand, and hasn't spoken for 2 weeks, but will nod or shake his head to questions. Over the weekend he told his dad he wanted to go home to die.
He and I had a "man to man" talk yesterday - this morning I stopped in to see if he was willing to put in the work to get better. He looked at me on my way in and said, "Good morning doc" - the first words I'd heard out of him since flying him from the outside hospital. He busted his ass with his rehab docs all day so he can get in good enough shape for his bone marrow transplant.
Did the talk help, or did his mind recover enough for him to realize he needs to start working? I don't care - I'm just glad to see him back in the fight.
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"The dignity of man is not shattered in a single blow, but slowly softened, bent, and eventually neutered. Men are seldom forced to act, but are constantly restrained from acting. Such power does not destroy outright, but prevents genuine existence. It does not tyrannize immediately, but it dampens, weakens, and ultimately suffocates, until the entire population is reduced to nothing better than a flock of timid, uninspired animals, of which the government is shepherd." - Alexis de Tocqueville
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