inspirational quotes for those with terminal illness

#Inspirational quotes for those with terminal illness how to#
#Inspirational quotes for those with terminal illness professional#

Without his responsibilities in the hospital, Kalanithi quickly came to see himself as an “invalid.” 10 This new conception of himself is so contrary to his prior way of life where he relished making difficult decisions in surgery and was ever striving towards professional perfection. Being a neurosurgeon “was a sacred thing” and a “moral duty,” yet his illness canceled his ability to perform the moral and sacred acts of healing. It was through medicine that he found meaning in his life and was able to act as a moral agent. Looking at his CT scans with his wife revealed a body covered in cancerous cells, Kalanithi remarks “that identity as a physician- identity-no longer mattered.” Those few words, replete with deep sadness, loss, and confusion, reveal how deeply Kalanithi’s identity was tied to his ability to be a physician. It was the loss of his profession that impacted Kalanithi’s self-identity most strongly. With his desired future no longer possible, he would have to find a new way to forge ahead.

#Inspirational quotes for those with terminal illness how to#

7 The realization leaves Kalanithi with a “paralytic uncertainty” and he questions how to continue living-should he return to surgery, write, spend time with family and friends? 8 For Kalanithi, recognizing his mortality does not so much provoke fear as it stimulates anxiety and an unease with himself. At an event with his medical school friends, Kalanithi recognizes his peers are “living the future that was no longer mine: early career awards, promotions, new houses. After his terminal diagnosis, Kalanithi remarks that the life he had been preparing for was suddenly a mirage-his once bright future had become opaque. In addition to feeling that his bodily identity had been lost, Kalanithi also experiences the loss of his future as a rupture to his sense of self. The young, fit and relentless surgeon who worked more than one hundred hours a week struggled to comprehend his place in the world once his body was stunted by illness. 6 Describing his new difficulty getting in and out of bed, he writes that his “body, and the identity tied to it, had radically changed.” Bodily changes had a direct effect on Kalanithi’s identity.

It is only when he can no longer do the things he once did like stand for hours in surgery, go on long bike rides, or run a half marathon that he begins to feel constrained by his illness. Instead, his frequent remarks reveal that Kalanithi feels constrained not by the embodied feeling of suffering, but by what the physical symptoms take away from him. 5 Kalanithi describes this intense pain, but the physical symptoms alone are not his principal concern. Before he begins chemotherapy treatment, the young neurosurgeon experiences extreme levels of pain that are occasionally so debilitating he drops to the floor and curls up in a fetal position. The physical effects of illness impact Kalanithi’s sense of himself as a robust and productive agent. The fact that terminal illness causes a disintegration of self-identity and that this can be an individual’s primary form of suffering has been understudied in medicine, sociology, and psychology.Įxcerpts from Kalanithi’s memoir reveal that different types of suffering can be fundamentally connected to a sense that an individual’s identity is being stripped away. Kalanithi experiences intense physical suffering and emotional stress throughout his illness, but he experiences the constraint of illness most deeply as a loss of identity. His diagnosis with metastatic lung cancer at thirty-six shook the foundations of his self-identity. 4 Kalanithi’s identity as a moral agent was deeply tied to medicine and his ability to heal others. He took great care in his work and critically recognized when he had slipped into formalism or a professional automation devoid of empathy and deep listening. Kalanithi’s descriptions of his interactions with patients reveal his attempt to approach each person with utmost compassion and attention. 3 Reading his memoir confirms that this man attempted to lead a life of moral excellence. 2 The drive for perfection in medicine was a way to achieve “the ancient Greek concept arête.” It was through his work as a physician that Kalanithi drove himself to achieve the “moral, emotional, mental, and physical excellence” required in the moral life. On deciding to become a neurosurgeon, the young doctor writes that he was “compelled by neurosurgery, with its unforgiving call to perfection” because it connected with him on a moral level.

Kalanithi’s profession became the locus in which he practiced moral agency. He had degrees in multiple fields from top universities, pursued a career in neurosurgery, the most rigorous specialty in medicine, worked exceedingly long hours pursuing his goal of excellence in medical care, and was never satiated with pat answers to existential questions-he searched for and created his own meaning in life.