Completing treatment for cancer is
an accomplishment. You may feel a
great sense of relief as some of the
anxiety and discomfort subside and
the inconvenience is over. After
thinking about cancer every waking
moment during treatment, you need to
resolve a few issues as you begin to
recover physically and move on with
your life. First and foremost,
establish your treatment follow-up
strategy and make sure that you feel
comfortable with the management of
any long-term side effects. Then,
find resources to help you cope with
financial and emotional issues.
Follow-Up Strategy
Follow-up care is necessary to
manage treatment complications and
to detect potential cancer
recurrence early, when it is most
treatable. Discuss your
post-treatment strategy in detail
with your medical team to determine
your follow-up schedule. Also, find
out if your post-treatment strategy
includes periodic tests. For
example, your follow-up care may
require periodic CT scans, MRIs or
X-rays to monitor and note any
suspicious changes. Similarly, if
your disease is associated with a
blood marker, you may have periodic
blood tests to monitor blood marker
levels. In addition to periodic
tests, you may want to discuss your
prognosis as well as symptoms of
recurrence that are cause for
further follow-up. Also, make sure
that you have established a way to
contact your doctor or nurse as
additional questions and concerns
arise.
Long-Term Side Effects
Long-term side effects from
treatment may be minor or imposing.
Understanding what side effects may
occur and determining the best way
to manage these side effects on a
permanent basis is important. Your
treating doctor may not be a
specialist in the management of
long-term side effects so you may
request a referral. For example, if
the surgical treatment of your
disease has left you physically
challenged, your follow-up care may
require a physical therapist. Or, if
you have had a lymph node
dissection, the management or
prevention of lymphedema may best be
handled by someone other than your
surgeon.
Post
Treatment Financial Issues
Cost of treatment may impose an
ongoing financial stress and burden.
Post-treatment financial issues may
include disputes with your
insurance, as well as debt incurred
from out of pocket expenses or an
inability to work during treatment.
Patient advocate organizations offer
valuable information to help
patients with these issues. For more
information about insurance issues,
job discrimination or patient
assistance programs, go to
www.patientadvocate.org or other
patient advocate organizations.
Support After completing
cancer treatment, you may feel
elated and relieved as you recover
and side effects diminish. Although
your life may return to normal, the
unknown and the statistics may still
weigh on your mind from time to
time. To cope with emotional issues,
you may wish to seek professional
support, family support, as well as
support from other patients with
your disease. Patients recommend
reading other patient stories,
telling your story and researching
breaking news concerning your
disease. These processes have been
facilitated by the evolvement of the
Internet's disease specific sites,
bulletin boards, and chat rooms.
Patients also indicate that
community support groups are a
valuable resource for emotional
support. Acknowledging your
experience through these outlets may
provide some sense of relief and
validation.
Defining your
post-treatment strategy,
understanding management of
long-term side effects, seeking
support for financial issues, and
coping with emotional issues are all
important components of your post
treatment plan. Since thinking about
cancer may consume you as you go
through treatment, letting go and
moving on may be difficult. However,
an effective post-treatment strategy
may help you cope with emotional and
physical side effects, as well as
facilitate early identification of
cancer recurrence when it is most
treatable.
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