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The Léon Bérard medical center in Lyon is confronted daily with the difficult question of cancer. For Brut, they describe how they follow their patients; from the announcement, through support and care, until remission.
“People cry, people say nothing, people say, ‘I don’t care.’ I would say that sometimes the most difficult reaction is when patients are with their spouse, and it is the spouse who cries and not the patient himself.“Doctor Philippe Zrounba is an ENT surgeon at the Léon Bérard cancer center in Lyon. For him, each announcement comes with its share of doubts about the diagnosis. “We (the patients) ask ourselves questions about death. The words “metastasis” necessarily come to mind”, he explains.
“The doctor announces the diagnosis of cancer, the recommended treatment, and then explains it to him. And then we see the patients a little from a distance, so that they have time to digest the information, in a dedicated consultation room.”, details Jennifer Thollin, coordinating nurse at the medical center. At home, each nurse follows a patient throughout his journey. “We go over the diagnosis with the patient, we reformulate, we re-explain the methods of treatment, the possible side effects. It’s a time on which we take a lot, a lot of energy and where there are additional consultations that are added for the reception of the patient, so that he can have, in his process of questioning, all the time, plenty of time to chat with a nurse”, she concludes.