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The provider does an excellent job of introducing fertility preservation. It is so important that he emphasized that there is no right or wrong answer. I like that he said many different families decide differently. I really would like to hear how the provider could better address the father’s frustration with feeling pushed into deciding. I think we have learned that time is of the essence when considering and choosing fertility treatment prior to chemotherapy and radiation. Would love to see a scenario where they explain why providers are bringing this up and a decision unfortunately does need to be made quickly in many cases.
I definitely agree, I was glad that the provider was able to emphasize that they are there to make a “choice”. I feel this will empower the patients and their parents. As you said, unfortunately time is of the essence and a large amount of patients never thought about this decision until they were presented with a cancer diagnosis.
I loved the psychologist’s responses to this family. I may also have reflected to the father that of course he is overwhelmed/feeling pressure from many thoughts and concerns about Jake’s future in light of the cancer diagnosis, and perhaps place the fertility conversation within that context of worries about the future. It might be helpful for the father here to explore/process what his biggest worries are, as addressing them piecemeal could make him more available for a discussion on future fertility concerns.
Unfortunately, not all institutions have a psychologist to talk to families whether inpatient or outpatient. The Psychologist’s approach was appropriate by acknowledging the parent’s feelings and being very direct with the fertility pros and cons. A lot of decisions to be made and no time to waste.
I appreciated the psychologist’s approach to discussing this difficult topic with the family. I believe it is especially difficult to have these conversations when there is a time stamp on when these decisions need to happen. The provider did a good job of aligning themselves with the parent. I agree with above providers that it would be nice to allow parents to be given a chance to understand why these questions are being asked and normalize this as a standard part of treatment.
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