A memorable story!

As you know cardiac is one of the main VNHIP projects. I think ít’s also one of our  most  success projects. We have done about 100 surgeries so far and had great results post surgery for our clients. All our patients have memorable stories. This is one of them

Ha is a 42 year old woman, who lives in Hoi An -Quang Nam (near our office) with her family. In July when Dr Josh was here, we had a clinic for some of our patients who we have managed for a long time. She heard about us from some of these patients and came to our clinic with a desire to get "foreign medicine" from us to help her condition. She did not know that we don't provide medications for all patients and that in fact medications cannot fix her condition. Dr Josh saw her and asked her to get some tests done so he can know how to help her. The next day she came back with test results.. After looking at the results, Josh said she needed surgery soon. But suddenly she became very upset, yelled at us and cried and said that we wasted her money for those silly test and why did we not want to give her some medications. We explained to her that meds can't fix her heart condition. But she did not trust us and remained angry with us. Then she went home. 

We felt very upset with her words and worried about her health as we knew she didn’t believe our medical advice. After some team discussion, the next day we decided we have to go to her house and talk to her and her children. We took an hour to explain to them about her condition and that she really need a surgery or it was clear she would have a further stroke and her condition could only worsen without this treatment. Fortunately they were listening to us and understood. It turned out she was diagnosed with valve disease 4 years ago but she never believed she should get  surgery. This family are not so poor as some other cases we have worked with so finances were not so much of a barrier, but she wanted to save money for her children,  and she was very scared of heart surgery so avoided it .She  had heard from some people that after heart surgery, she may get worse and not be able to work. Then she had a stroke 6 months before we met her and after that she had hemiplegia on the right side. We convinced her that surgery was the only option she had for her health, and that without surgery she would have further strokes. Before her stroke she worked as a motorbike driver with an income of about $100/month. But since she had a stroke she has been unable to work. Her husband is a motorbike driver also with income $150/month.  They have 3 children. One of them got married, 2 others still at high school. Finally, she agreed to surgery and got it just 5 days after  we talk to the family. Our biggest success. In this case I have to help patients overcome the fear and have  successful surgery. She looks great now and can ride a bicycle, or even cart to work.