Venkatesh Confronts Pancreatic Cancer

Venkatesh was a 68 years old male diagnosed with advanced pancreatic cancer. While undergoing chemotherapy with a senior onco-palliation specialist in Bangalore, Venkatesh was dealing with side effects of nausea, pain, and loss of weight. He was also slowly starting to lose his ability to move around. With time and age, his bodily functions were slowing down, and he became bedridden.

Venkatesh’s family was experiencing a lot of emotional stress due to his deteriorating health. They did not want to put their beloved family member in a cancer hospice. Instead, they wanted Venkatesh to be at home surrounded by his loved ones. However, the frequent episodes that Venkatesh experienced at home were becoming difficult to manage and further added to the family’s stress.

Ubiqare’s End of Life Care Program Offers Comfort and Clinical Care

We stepped in with a two-pronged role. One was to offer as much comfort as possible to Venkatesh. Second was to engage with the family and to support them through the emotionally stressful time.

We arranged for a Care Doctor and skilled onco-nurse to look after Venkatesh. Our Care Doctor interacted with the onco-palliation specialist to define the care regimen and protocols to be followed for Venkatesh. He started monitoring Venkatesh at home and updated the specialist about the situation.

The Care Doctor intervened when Venkatesh had electrolyte imbalance and his oxygen saturation decreased. He also worked with Venkatesh on pain management.

We created a network of supportive care services and proximity clinics so that Venkatesh can get immediate medical attention and avoid stressful travel to hospitals.

Our team also engaged with the family to help them understand the expected treatment outcome and make important decisions at the right time. We helped them deal with their emotional anxiety.

After Venkatesh succumbed to his illness, our Care Manager helped the family deal with the formalities of arranging for an ambulance, obtaining death certificate, etc.

Outcomes

Venkatesh and his family were greatly relieved to have our support system around them. Venkatesh was happy to be cared for at home where he was most comfortable. During the 6 months, we were able to avoid 3 hospital readmissions for him.

Our Care Doctor’s constant touch-base with Venkatesh’s onco specialist ensured that there was a continuity of the specialist’s care regimen. The onco skilled nurse took care of the medication, hygiene and pain relief as prescribed by the specialist.

Venkatesh’s family was glad to have our team by their side as they faced the reality of Venkatesh’s deteriorating health. They were relieved that their family member was being looked after at home instead of a cancer hospice and was able to spend the last few days of his life surrounded by his family.