I just read a thoughtful article about surviving survivorship by Laura Landro, assistant
managing editor of The Wall Street
Journal. Her
December 9th article, entitled “The Next Front in Cancer Care” is
nicely summarized in the sub-head: “As More Patients Survive, Cancer Centers
Handle Disease's Knock-On Effects” - http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303330204579248400281496142
Ok,
so what are “Knock-On” effects?
Landro
says “For cancer patients, getting through the rigors of treatment is the first
hurdle. Then, life as a cancer survivor poses its own daunting physical and
emotional challenges.”
Depressingly,
she notes that these challenges are “Chemotherapy and radiation can damage
vital organs such as the heart and liver, possibly causing secondary diseases
years later. The body can be debilitated, cognitive functions impaired and
emotions distressed, making return to normal life and work difficult. Some 70%
of cancer survivors experience depression at some point. Patients have higher
levels of anxiety years after the disease is cured. And there is always the
chance that cancer will return.”
Arrggghhh!
That’s scary. I’ve read about all the meningioma brain tumor victims panicking
about their 6 month post-surgery MRI on ABTA’s Inspire website, so this feels both true and upsetting: https://www.inspire.com/groups/american-brain-tumor-association/discussion/meningioma-6-month-postoperative-mri/
Some
cancer centers are starting to address this according to Landro, “A growing
number of hospitals and community cancer centers, which treat the majority of
the nation's cancer patients, are launching survivorship-care programs. These
include treatment follow-up plans, physical rehabilitation and emotional
assistance, such as counseling and support groups. They resemble programs
currently offered by big urban cancer centers like MD Anderson in Houston and
Memorial Sloan-Kettering in New York.”
Laurence
Gonzales has written an entire book on this entitled Surviving Survival, which is neatly summarized in the Amazon.com
description, “You have survived the crisis—trauma, disease, accident, or war—now
how do you get your life back?” And while he doesn’t focus on surviving brain
cancer, I believe the emotional landscape for “getting your life back” is the
same.
If
you’re interested, here’s a link: http://www.amazon.com/Surviving-Survival-Art-Science-Resilience-ebook/dp/B007Q6XJ5O/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1387220473&sr=1-1&keywords=surviving+survival
Image
credit: <a
href='http://www.123rf.com/photo_23646158_fight-cancer-and-treatment-for-cancerous-tumors-health-care-symbol-with-a-medical-metaphor-of-hope-w.html'>lightwise
/ 123RF Stock Photo</a>
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