Moving Forward After Treatment
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 might want to avoid thinking about it anymore. Yet you still need to resolve a few issues as you begin to recover physically and move on with your life.
First, it’s vital to establish your treatment follow-up strategy and make sure that you feel comfortable with the management of any long-term side effects you might have. Then, find the resources and support you need to help you cope with financial and emotional issues you may be facing as a result of your cancer experience. These are all important components of your post-treatment plan.
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.
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 and symptoms of recurrence that are cause for further follow-up. Also, make sure you have 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 more significant. Understanding what side effects may occur and determining the best way to manage them permanently 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
The cost of treatment may have left you with an ongoing financial stress and burden. Post-treatment financial issues may include disputes with your insurance company or debt arising from out-of-pocket expenses or an inability to work during treatment.
Patient advocate organizations offer valuable information to help with these concerns. For more information about insurance issues, job discrimination, or patient assistance programs, go to the Patient Advocate Foundation or other organizations dedicated to helping cancer patients and their families.
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 or family support, and maybe support from other people with your disease. Patients recommend reading other patients’ stories, telling your story, and researching breaking news concerning your disease. All of these are made easy by disease-specific Web sites, electronic bulletin boards, and chat rooms. Community support groups for patients, caregivers, and families are a valuable resource for emotional support. Acknowledging your experience through these outlets may provide some sense of relief and validation.