Reflection on Jessica's Story: Importance of Palliative Care

The writing by Michelle Sunderland, Jessica's mother, has changed my perspective on health, illness, dying, and death. Before reading the story, I thought that death and palliative care are terms that only apply to the older adults. However, the death of Jessica at three years of age indicates that death and end-of-life care are relevant at all periods of human development.

Running head: MODULE THREE 1
Module Three
Student’s Name
Institutional Affiliation

MODULE THREE 2
Module Three
Reflection on Jessica’s story
The writing by Michelle Sunderland, Jessica's mother, has changed my perspective on
health, illness, dying, and death. Before reading the story, I thought that death and palliative care
are terms that only apply to the older adults. However, the death of Jessica at three years of age
indicates that death and end-of-life care are relevant at all periods of human development. The
deceased lived a happy and healthy life before the diagnosis of a brain tumor. The late
determination indicates that the early stages of cancer can go unnoticed. However, late treatment
of tumor has no impact as the patient dies from the disease.
Jessica's story highlights the signs and symptoms of the disease according to the mother.
The first symptom involved strange walking of the patient due to the advancement of the tumor.
Patients with brain tumor also experience dropping of the face to a specific side and drooling
(Cubis, Ownsworth, Pinkham, & Chambers, 2018). The writing shows the condition limited the
ability of the young patient to move from one place to the other. The oncologist noticed the
dropping of the face to a specific side.
The patient's tumor had spread to a significant part of the brain, and no medical remedy
could restore her health and prevent death. An attempt to remove a tumor at the advanced stages
of brain cancer is futile. The surgeon attempted to stop the spread of the disease to other adjacent
cells through surgical means with little success. A brain tumor is a terminal disease that frightens
and agitates the patient (Bush, 2018). Further progress in the complication of cancer limits an
individual's ability to walk or talk. Therefore, the family of the patient requires palliative care to
support the patient during her last days.

MODULE THREE 3
Before reading the writing about the incident, I knew that caregivers could only offer
palliative care at health facilities. However, Mrs. Sunderland's story discloses hidden and
essential information about palliative care. The palliative care unit offered to help Jessica's
parents to take care of her at home instead of the hospital. Music therapy is one of the remedies
for individuals undergoing end-of-life care (Clements-Cortés, 2016. The mother also intended to
sing the song at the funeral of Jessica.
The writing explores the importance of the palliative care that many people like me do
not know about the end-of-life department. The attention enables individuals to accept the fact
that a loved one is soon departing never to return. The palliative nurse in writing is called Paula.
The nurse has the duty of providing the needs of the patient including drugs (Johnstone,
Hutchinson, Redley, & Rawson, 2016). Additionally, the end-of-care unit should be ready to
help the patient and the family members at any point.

MODULE THREE 4
References
Bush, S. H. (2018). Delirium as a Palliative Care Emergency. Textbook of Palliative Care, 1-20.
Clements-Cortés, A. (2016). Development and efficacy of music therapy techniques within
palliative care. Complementary therapies in clinical practice, 23, 125-129.
Cubis, L., Ownsworth, T., Pinkham, M. B., & Chambers, S. (2018). The social trajectory of brain
tumor: a qualitative metasynthesis. Disability and rehabilitation, 40(16), 1857-1869.
Johnstone, M. J., Hutchinson, A. M., Redley, B., & Rawson, H. (2016). Nursing roles and
strategies in end-of-life decision making concerning elderly immigrants admitted to acute
care hospitals: an Australian study. Journal of Transcultural Nursing, 27(5), 471-479.