Everything else could wait...or could it?

[María Andrea Fernández Sepúlveda]

I am someone who had always put my patients and my job first. Medicine was—and continues to be—my calling. My family has always been important, and my husband also accepted and understood how much I care for my patients. Everything else could wait...or could it?

This quote is found in Location 87 of Kindle version of this book. It is about how her illness did not wait, though she could keep waiting everything else till she dutifully completed her job.

Do you think if she cared a little bit more about herself, she could have had a better chance of not getting the cancer? What is more important; doing your job wholeheartedly or caring for you and your loved ones?

I guess that answer depends on each person. For me, it's caring for my loved ones but I have to admit that it's very easy to get sucked up into the workaholic craze that our culture imposes. I don't know why we glorify being busy all the time and overlooking our wellbeing.

[Yusuf11]

it's clear that the author spends more time with her patients than friends and family and literally cares about their well-being. However, I think the author didn't even give herself much time as she should have. The book sounds so interesting though.

[Hiruni Hansika]

There are some illnesses that we can prevent and some we cannot. I guess cancer is sometimes preventable but if it is a familial cancer or a genetic mutation that occurs in you, nothing will be able to prevent it. There for onky thing one can do is do things that can make them happy. In her case, if it is caring for her patients I don't think she has anything to regret.

[Gemjay]

I don't think that caring more about her family and for herself would have reduced the chances of getting cancer. But if the cancer was due to environmental factors then maybe yes if not then no. The point is agree that we should balance work and family. But when bad things happen don't start blaming work. Just make better choices.

[Kaushiki Parihar]

It is said that "the world is one family." The job she does is taking care of her family. Therefore in my view, she dutifully completed all her responsibilities towards everyone including herself.
And secondly, there are some things in life you are just destined to be. Like, what if she cared more for herself but still got cancer. She would be more disheartened. She did what made her happy, so she would be happy in her final moments.

[Huini Hellen]

I am someone who had always put my patients and my job first. Medicine was—and continues to be—my calling. My family has always been important, and my husband also accepted and understood how much I care for my patients. Everything else could wait...or could it?

This quote is found in Location 87 of Kindle version of this book. It is about how her illness did not wait, though she could keep waiting everything else till she dutifully completed her job.

Do you think if she cared a little bit more about herself, she could have had a better chance of not getting the cancer? What is more important; doing your job wholeheartedly or caring for you and your loved ones?

I believe in selfless service to humanity. One cannot discriminately victimize her conditions against her because cancer affects one due to various factors, which are lifestyle based. Moreover, if caring for her patients gave her peace of mind, then it's really a noble task that she undertook.

[Mys_Trea]

I think that if the author can look back and not feel an ounce of regret, then yes. Everything else could wait. We all have different priorities. Different things fulfill us. So if whatever she chose to do at that moment ultimately contributed towards her happiness, then she chose well.

[Sushan Ekanayake]

Doing what makes you happy is very vital. Some people put all their efforts, mind, resources on things that at the end of the day, won't make them happy, rather it makes them feel sad. According to the author, taking care of her patients makes her happy. Therefore, everything else can wait, make sure you prioritize whatever that makes you happy.

Self satisfaction is very much important. But at the same time one has to keep in mind that there are responsibilities that have to be fulfilled towards one's family, relatives as well as one's own self. How can someone who does not care for his own self can care others well?

[Sushan Ekanayake]

Every creature, including human beings on this earth, has some sort of a purpose. An obligation to fulfil for this universe. And medicine was her call. Not all of us are lucky to have such a "call". I think it was the purpose of her life. Healing people. And that made her happy. If she neglected her job, and if she was diagnosed early, still, there is this question, will she be happy?

I think that has to be asked from the author. She was sad by hearing her diagnosis and she got frustrated after seeing that the illness has been spread up to lymph nodes. It is true that no one can say for sure when that lymph node infiltration happened, but there is a fair chance for that to be prevented if the diagnosis was made earlier. It is pretty much sad to see a cancer which occurs on the skin being diagnosed late, because of nothing else but ignoring the condition.

[Sushan Ekanayake]

About the author's cancer, I don't think that if the author took more care of herself it could change the odds of having a disease. About the question about which one is more important: your job or you and your family. I think that it is intimately related to happiness and to what do you value most. It's a question that really depends on several personal factors, such as your job, your family, your friends, and other aspects. The author talks about it a lot, but it seems that she valued the aspect of helping other people in her job and I think there's no wrong or right about it, each person is a different case.

It is a play with emotions. You can be happy by doing what you like, a rare chance that people get as we see many are doing things for the sake of doing them with no love towards that. But this author had the passion towards her job. She says that her husband understood her well and allowed her to do her job as she liked. But how can we say that while she was pleasing the patients, that her husband was pleased too? If he was yearning for her company, but did not reveal it out of love, her diagnosis could have been a blow on his head

[Sushan Ekanayake]

Yes, you should always do what makes you happy or what you are extremely passionate about but that shouldn't be detrimental to one's well being. Work-life balance is vital.

Taking care of yourself should always be a top priority. I'm sorry to say that the author didn't put herself first. If you do not take care of yourself, how can you be in your best form to take care of others?

You have spoken my mind out. If the author was diagnosed earlier and cured from her illness, who will be the most benefitted? That will be no one else but her patients. But what has happened now. She has become ill and the condition has worsened because she delayed going for treatment because of the need to treat her patients. It is a good example to portray the importance of balancing work-life and personal-life.

[Sushan Ekanayake]

The answer lies in the question: "What is it that gives you satisfaction when you go to bed at night?" Happiness will always be subjective for everyone. There is no right answer here; you have to feel satisfied and complete in whatever you choose to do.
The author found her peace while caring for her patients. She felt the happiness in the greater good of the community. But at the same time, it wouldn't have been selfish of her if she would've chosen her family over her career.

I think the best thing to do is to balance work life with the personal life. However much one loves one's career, the same won't be felt or understood by that one's family and they might feel neglected. When someone is in deep trouble, usually they turn towards there own family though they used to do a lot to the outer society.

I agree with what you are saying but if you really love your work and can't seem to get enough of it, your family will definitely understand your passion and will support you no matter what. Although, you shouldn't take them for granted and make them understand that you are there for them whenever they need you. I'm sure if you make this crystal clear to them, they would never feel neglected by you rather they'd support you by all means.

There are lucky workaholics who have got a family who are that much understanding and are willing to support the workaholics. But many workaholics face family matters because of this extreme passion towards their job.

And in this scenario, the author has neglected no one else but her own self, which gave her unpleasant consequences. But the suffering is not only to her but also to her family as well as her clients too.

[Sushan Ekanayake]

This is such a hard question. Yes, if she had taken time to care for herself, rested, and relaxed maybe she might have caught the symptoms sooner? I'm not sure if we can blame ourselves for something so unknown. She could have very well-developed cancer regardless.

I agree. Even though she spent some time for herself, still she could have lost the battle with cancer. Maybe now she has something to look back and be happy, thinking that through her life span she spent her time well to help the others.

But at the same time we can think about the controversial question, "if she cared for herself and could cure her illness, couldn't she have done much more service to others?". Yes, a pretty much tough question to answer.

[Ghuddie eso]

Doing your job wholeheartedly is important and taking care of your health and the health of your loved ones is equally important. You just have to find a balance.

[Pearl Hijabi]

Happiness is subjective to each person but, so is priorities. In this the author's happiness is in her carrier. Caring for patients has given her the satisfaction so it's more than just a carrier for her, it's her calling.
But no matter how passionate the balance between work-life is vital. U can forget everything when you are passionate about work. But like what happened to author somethings couldn't wait. Even if Cancer could be stopped maybe she could have seen the symptoms before.