Our first knocks on Rosie’s bedroom door woke her up. We had made a Friday mid-morning visit to her home as part of our regular health check-ins with cancer patients who had registered for hospice home care. Rosie was resting but was happy to have visitors.
“Come in, come in!” she yelled out chirpily a few seconds later. Sigrid, her helper, pops into the kitchen to get us some refreshments.
Rosie sat up in bed as Josephine, senior staff nurse with SCS Hospice Services, wheeled in with her bag of essentials filled with medication and monitoring equipment. Silver-haired and smiling, Rosie was as healthy and happy as a person with stage 4 colorectal cancer could possibly be. Although cancer had spread to her lungs, which caused moments of breathlessness, she experienced no pain or discomfort. Rosie counts herself blessed.
Rosie had colon surgery 6 years ago. She had noticed an unusual change in her bowel movements and went for a colonoscopy, discovered blood in her stool and a number of polyps. She decided to proceed with an operation to remove 4 inches of her affected colon. There were no complications. However, in July 2015, Sigrid noticed that Rosie was wheezing as she breathed. An X-ray revealed that cancer had returned and spread to her lungs. Doctors gave her 6 months to a year to live. Even so, she opted not to go for any surgery or chemotherapy to avoid compromising her quality of life. She ate well, slept well, and didn’t experience pain.
Now 85, Rosie is making the most out of life. She attends the nearby church once a month and occasionally walks outdoors to exercise. Her daily routine is stable. She wakes up, stretches, prays and reads her bible, eats, rests, takes her medication, and when evening comes around, she Skypes with her son who lives in Melbourne, and her 2 granddaughters too.
The other activity that gives her joy throughout the day is colouring. Rosie picked it up in recent months when somebody bought her an adult colouring book. Although she’s never done any art before in her life, she’s taken to colouring like a fish to water. In her in-between times, she flips through the dozen or so colouring books, finds an incomplete picture, and starts filling in the blanks with bright chirpy colours.
“It’s important to be happy and not be stressed about things,” Rosie muses. “Colouring relaxes me and makes me happy. Sometimes I have breathlessness and arthritis pain in my hands. But when I’m colouring, my mind is focused, the discomfort passes and I continue colouring. I’m happy.” For several hours a day, colouring enables Rosie to create something beautiful, ward off sleepiness, and feel at peace. Beside her lies a stack of colouring books. She flips through one and proudly displays her pencil work. Flowers are her favourite subject, especially roses.
Sigrid has been looking after Rosie for the past 13 years. In fact, they’re roommates. The close bond between them is built on trust and mutual affection. Sigrid manages the household, cooks and cleans, looks after Rosie, takes care of her needs, pushes her in a wheelchair when they go out, and makes sure she takes her medication. But more than that, Sigrid is like a member of the family: a pillar of love and support. Despite the challenges of caring for Rosie, Sigrid is undaunted. Social media helps her to keep in touch with her family in the Philippines. On her day off, she heads out with her friends and leaves Rosie with her sister who comes by and accompanies her.
Rosie’s story illustrates the importance of having the support of loved ones and meaningful activities to engage in. Despite cancer, Rosie feels healthy, happy, and supported. Josephine agrees, “we may not be able to control cancer but we can surely control how we face it. For many patients, when cancer is diagnosed at a late stage, the focus is not so much on aggressive treatment but on quality of life and finding meaning every day. Our role in providing hospice care is to help our patients achieve that in their own homes, just like Rosie has. She’s always positive and happy and I look forward to seeing her on my visits. I hope she continues to maintain her outlook and condition.”
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