In reply to:
However, I will concede that an oncologist with a colostomy would receive my sympathy.
Well my sympathies go out to the person left holding the bag... There are times when clinic is so busy, however, that a Foley catheter and a temporary colostomy would be items of convenience!
But enough jesting. The patients I feel most sorry for are the terminally ill young adults. They are on the verge of the freedom of adulthood and they know they are never going to have it. They're never going to get married, go to Paris or London, have their own kids, publish a novel, play the role of Hamlet, discover a new species of jellyfish, see the Pyramids, graduate from West Point... Whatever their dreams are, they have lived long enough to dream them but not long enough to realize them. As pitiful as it is to see a very young child with a terminal illness, they don't quite know what they're missing compared to the young adult. (My opinion -- I could be wrong.) On the other hand, when you cure a patient's cancer you can feel good about being able to rescue all that possibility -- or at least feel good about having played a small part in its rescue.
