VIGNETTES - By R.S Karunaratne

The violence of disease

Have you ever been diagnosed with any kind of incurable disease? If so, you will find that it is one of the most distressing situations in life. When you are young you never give thought to dreaded diseases such as cancer, heart problems and paralysis. But when you reach middle age you will be compelled to visit physicians and specialists. Then you find that all diseases, especially the incurable ones, are painful, frightening and devastating.

Diseases do not respect your social status or wealth. You see good-looking actors confined to wheelchairs and well-known body builders taking treatment for enlarged hearts. What is strange is that these diseases hit you at the most unexpected moment.

Ranawaka was a dashing young executive in a private firm. Armed with an MBA he was climbing the corporate ladder. Superiors liked him because he was punctual and methodical. However, his good fortunes did not last long. One day we found him paralysed waist downwards. He was confined to a wheel chair for the rest of his life.

When you are struck down by an incurable disease, you lose all hopes for survival. Sometimes, you may even contemplate committing suicide. Such diseases completely violate your sense of balance. It is not surprising that you will also lose your dignity. Except for a few, most of your relatives, friends and well-wishers will shun you. Then you begin to lose weight and appetite. Sometimes, there would be plastic bags and tubes jutting out of your body.

Once I met a friend with a plastic bag containing some yellowish liquid. I did not know what to say. He smiled and went on his way as if the whole world had crashed on his head.

When you are healthy everyone wants you. They keep company with you and admire you. However, when you suffer from an incurable disease the scenario changes. If you are bed-ridden, the situation becomes worse. When you find yourself in such a miserable condition you have no choice. You will not be able to eat or drink what you like. You will have to be satisfied with what others give you. In such a situation you tend to lose your temper and humour.

Those suffering from incurable diseases need the company of family members and friends more than anybody else. If the patient lives in his own house, the situation will be somewhat bearable.

Very often healthy people keep away from patients for two reasons. First, they do not know what to do with sick people. Secondly, they do not know what to discuss with them. When a patient is confined to bed for a long time, he needs the company of his family members. If they can share their views that will be a kind of therapy to the depressed patient.

We can help a sick person cope with his disease in many ways. Firstly, we must not forget that he is another human being who is badly in need of physical and psychological help. Depression seriously affects sick people. Unless handled with care, depression may lead to a variety of emotional and physical problems. Therefore, depressed patients should be convinced that they have not lost everything. They should remember that tough times do not last forever. But tough people do last for a longer time!

Hardly any disease is feared more than cancer which is associated with lingering pain. Most patients consider cancer a death sentence. Fortunately, several kinds of cancer have a high cure rate if it is detected early.

Although cancer remains the second leading cause of death after coronary heart disease, the precise cause for the disease is yet to be established. It is common knowledge that when cancer spreads certain cells in the body multiply rapidly in an uncontrollable way. These cells tend to form tumours which begin to suck nutrients from healthy cells and body tissues.

More than this biological process, the emotional responses of cancer patients will have a devastating effect on them. For example, a patient who adopts a fighting spirit is more likely to recover or live longer than someone who resigns himself to death. Psychological research shows that cancer patients with a positive attitude are more likely to live longer than those with a negative attitude.

However much you take precautions, you cannot avoid certain diseases. Therefore, you have to learn the technique of coping with the violence of disease. If you are unable to do so by yourself, seek psychological counselling.