Hospice Volunteering

After completing about 15 hours of volunteering with hospice patients, I have found that I keep learning more and more every time I meet with a new patient. I spent about 6 hours last Saturday with an elderly man named Paul, who is 86 years old but is still talking and walking like someone much younger than he. Paul was diagnosed with Malignant Melanoma (the deadliest type of skin cancer) a little bit over a year ago, and over the course of the past year the cancer metastasized (spread) to his spine, pancreas, and liver. I can’t speak for everyone, but I know that if I was diagnosed with cancer of that degree and only given a mere 3 months to live, I would be in poor spirits. Paul on the other hand, has accepted the fact that he is going to die soon and is just trying to make the rest of his life the best that it can be. Since my career goal is to become an Oncologist of some sort, I think that it is very useful for me to be volunteering with hospice patients because if I become an Oncologist, I am going to be the one telling patients that they don’t have long to live and trying to save their lives. It is extremely emotional but I am making it so far!