Welcome! and Thank you for listening.
When it comes to your health, I have always asked the question; will it make you live longer, or will it make you live better? Another translation might be, will your quality of life be better and or longer? If you are sick and feel bad, the question is a lot easier perhaps than if you are feeling well. Physicians sometimes confuse quality of life with objective progression free survival. Translated roughly if the disease has not gotten worse, you must be better. Even though it seems reasonable, it has never been proven to be an equivalent measurement. For example, a tumor could shrink but the person has long lasting side effects from the medication. Quality of life is also a personal decision and there is not a universal definition.
What about the things we accept for truth such as sun causes cancer? What about our source for vitamin D? Should we even wear sunglasses? Why do some melanomas occur where there is very little sun exposure? How about rest? Should we move if we are injured?
One thing we have lost as health care providers is taking time. Time to speak with patients and understand their concerns. Time to explain our thoughts for their treatment and discuss risks and alternatives. Time to have the hard talks about what quality of life means to a particular person. Time to think about where the information we base our protocol driven decisions comes from and question if it is valid?
I hope you enjoy the podcast. Thanks for listening.
Email me at jami@doctordulaney.com
Website:doctordulaney.com
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