The happiest endings are written with music

Rochsane closes the door of the room where a music therapy session has just finished and heads to 208. There, lying on the bed but with her best smile, Susanna Quincoces awaits her. Each with an instrument, they play at random. And what may seem like disordered notes end up becoming a melody that catalyzes emotions. Serenity, sometimes. Melancholy, in others. Joy, sadness..., and so on until the encounter ends. Together they manage to "facilitate emotional expression using non-verbal communication," explains Olivia Giménez, a social worker in this unit.

Music therapy is not the only activity Susanna does when pain forces her to be admitted. She also has reiki sessions that help her relax. "These spaces make you feel more like a person and less like a patient; it's like putting a parenthesis on the illness," summarizes Olivia, at the foot of the bed, accompanying her. And in few places does the verb accompany make so much sense. Because patient accompaniment at a medical, social, psychological, and spiritual level is the cornerstone of this unit, which is part of the Program for Comprehensive Care for People with Advanced Illnesses of the "la Caixa" Social Project.

Meanwhile, Susanna, with a firm voice, narrates her fight against cancer and different metastases over the last six years. Now, at 50 and with an 18-year-old daughter, she assures that she has more tools to face her daily life thanks to the team at Hospital Sant Camil. She explains that hers is "a growth experience". "I will do whatever is necessary to keep living," she adds. "She is a fighter, who has turned the illness into a challenge," says Olivia.

"Beautiful." It is the adjective Susanna pronounces most when explaining the work of the team that cares for her. Her words, her pampering and care, her attitude when waking her up, her constant accompaniment are beautiful. At the head of the unit is Helena Camell, head of the Internal Medicine and Palliative Care Service of the hospital. "It's about helping to die feeling that you have lived," she says. "The goal is to humanize palliative care."

She leads this multidisciplinary team made up of doctors, nurses, psychologists, and social workers, which allows for comprehensive care for the patient, as well as their family members. Professionals from different disciplines, each with their differentiated functions and routines. One would say they are like the isolated notes that Susanna and Rochsane play in their music therapy sessions. Seemingly unconnected notes that gradually form a melody. A placid melody that, if listened to carefully, is a song to life as death approaches.

Text: Neus Contreras Illustration: Belén Segarra

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