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Dear All,

It's sad how families seem to "know so much better".  My
surviving Danish brother-in-law has great difficulty
accepting the "rules of the house" established to enable us
to eat together.  At least he tries (well sort of).

The saddest story I have of this type is about a patient I
was working with during my time in Denmark.  I worked as a
trainee hospital physicist in an Oncology department and we
were treating this patient for lung cancer (almost
certainly due to his very heavy smoking).  He had stopped
smoking on the advice from the consultant that either he
did so or he would only be treated palliatively but
treatment start was put off so he could attend a family
"do".  Most of the family smoke and he tried to persuade
them to stop, so they wouldn't end up where was.  Not a bit
of it - THEY thought it was FUNNY to offer him cigarettes
and blow smoke in his face.  I remember he was in tears
telling us this.

Part of the reason why I got out Oncology instead of
changing career into it was because I can't stand the
soul-tearing of this sort of story on a near daily basis!

Families are really strange!

Regards

David

David J Walland
University of Bristol Radiation Protection Adviser
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Tel +44 (0)117 928 8323
Fax +44 (0)117 929 1209