л и ч н о е мн е н и е © 2014 by American Society of Clinical Oncology A Perplexing Question Daniel E. Epner From the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX. <...> M rs A was a 38-year-old Kuwaiti woman who traveled to our cancer center to undergo treatment for locally advanced spindle cell sarcoma. <...> Mrs A started the conversation. “Doctor, may I ask you a question?” “Yes, of course,” I replied. “Why do you always sit when you visit me?” I was perplexed by her question. <...> Mrs A had been referred to our cancer center for evaluation and treatment of a large pelvic spindle-cell sarcoma. <...> After many visits Corresponding author: Daniel E. Epner, MD, the Department of Palliative Care and Rehabilitation Medicine, MD Anderson Cancer Center 1400 Pressler, Unit 1414, Houston, TX 77030; E-mail: depner@mdanderson.org 8 and considerable time and emotional support, our psychosocial team and I gradually transitioned her to an oral opioid regimen and tapered the dose as much as possible. <...> I imagined a desert night, with its warm sensuous breezes drifting through A Perplexing Question the tent, calming fussy little boys and girls, allowing them to drift off to sleep on luxurious comforters like those used by countless ancestors. <...> As I did, I realized that I had never answered her perplexing question about why I sit, but I knew that I had finally arrived at the answer. <...> AUTHOR'S DISCLOSURES OF POTENTIAL CONFLICTS OF INTEREST The author(s) indicated no potential conflicts of interest. <...> Трудный вопрос* Тридцативосьмилетняя миссис А. приехала в наш онкологический центр из Кувейта для лечения местнораспространенной веретеноклеточной саркомы. <...> В палате было два кресла – одно, огромный реклайнер, было занято мужем, *Перевод доктора мед. наук проф. <...> Статья опубликована в “Journal of Clinical Oncology”: Epner DE. <...> Миссис А. была направлена в наш онкологический центр для обследования и лечения большой веретеноклеточной <...>