The diagnosis of a terminal illness can be devastating news. People will go through various stages of loss and grief.
For some, once they have accepted their diagnosis, they find a new energy and sometimes a new meaning to their life. I have known patients enrolling in new courses and learning new skills.
On the other hand, many patients become less active and will spend more and more time resting. Partly this is the effect of their condition but sometimes it is also a state of mind.
Many years ago, a patient of mine with cancer of the colon was receiving palliative care. He had to give up his job. I visited him at home and it became clear he had very little to do at home and had come to accept a very sedentary life. I remember he had a woodwork workshop in his house and was thinking of selling all the tools and the work horse. He had already been offered substantial sum for them.
A short while later I visited him again and he seemed much better. I finished that visit by offering to visit him again the following week.
He checked his diary and said, “Sorry doctor, I have a yoga class booked next week. I will come and see you when I need you.”
I responded, “I did not know you were into yoga?”
He looked at me and said, “I have been going for 6 weeks. It gives me a lot more energy. I am also enjoying working with the wood now. The yoga has done me wonders. I am much calmer in my mind.”
He continued to be very active both with yoga and with his woodwork right until the last few days of his life. Ever since then, I have encouraged my patients undergoing palliative care to take up yoga or other exercise to stay active both physically and in the mind.
Is it yoga or the positive frame of mind which has been helpful for my patients? I don’t know. One cannot assume cause and effect, what I do know is that mind and body are not separate!
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