Expert Author Steven J Ward
Cancer's extended journey reveals the need to develop long-term coping skills to address lingering annoyances and prolonged emotional stressors. Though cancer treatments continue to improve and extend lives, the journey remains complex and perplexing. Coping with cancer long-term requires skills to manage psychological and physical conditions. Numerous variables, aside from cancer's cold indifference, impact the individual's ability to cope. Consternation begins at diagnosis; the need to deal with cancer perpetuates the struggle.
Cancer remains void of considerations for age, gender, ethnicity, spiritual beliefs, social environment and more. Outside forces combined with internal strife contribute to defining each journey as being unique. Though cancer journeys are unique, they share similarities, which help to form a practical guide to encourage people to cope better in hopes of improving their trek.
A patient's journey may be extended or cut short due to prognosis and available effective therapies. Patients desire extended life and quality of life. How can one begin to grasp that what we do with time may be more significant than the amount of time? Also, how does one begin to prepare for end-of-life knowing that time is finite? Though the time is limited keep faith and hope, as people have beat the odds and miracles can and do happen.
How people choose to prepare for end-of-life is personal with virtually no absolute way to prepare. Personal cancer stories and studies suggest that when the time is limited there is a period of transformation from being scared to a time of introspective exploration and discovery to transition toward a place of peace and serenity. A state of higher conscientiousness coupled with spirituality on their terms seems to comfort the progression for end-of-life. Respect other's choices and preparation to say goodbye. They may see and feel things unknowing to us that provide peace and serenity to a beautiful life.
For those patients blessed with the opportunity for extended life, the journey becomes a time of continued adaptability and adjustments. Some patients experience nagging and lingering side effects for years requiring the need for long-term coping. Cancer survivors have known for decades that survivor-ship post-treatment extends the challenge of coping. For those having extreme difficulty, life feels like a time of purgatory. The American Cancer Society recently published an article revealing conclusions of a study examining cancer's psychological effects on survivors. "Research supported by the American Cancer Society has added to understanding the physical and psychological effects of cancer on survivors. There remains much to learn and more to do. That's why the society is collecting information about the quality of life of more than 15,000 cancer survivors nationwide through the Studies of Cancer Survivors surveys. Society researchers hope to identify the needs of long-term survivors and design programs and interventions to improve their quality of life." (1) "Even though survivors have won the fight against cancer, the war in their bodies may not be over. Survivors deal with myriad acute, chronic, and late effects of cancer and its treatment, in domains ranging from physical to emotional, social, spiritual, and economic matters. As many as 75% have health deficits from their treatment, and up to 68% express fears about recurrence and concern for the future. Survivors can experience symptoms for more than 10 years following treatment." (2) Also, a scientific study in 2015 confirmed survivor's suspicions that they were not alone. (3) Though the journey's time can be relatively long, it's a constant time of adapting. Hopefully, we feel a transformation to something greater to manage fear and anxiety to again living life.
The quality of life throughout survivor-ship, indifferent to time, relies on sustaining psychological balance to fight off attacks from lingering conditions and anxieties. Consequently, life with cancer is about the journey. Will and determination to stay the course are tested. It is this trek that defines one's ability to cope and hopefully to reveal a driving spirit to be our best through this time of adversity. Unfortunately, there exist a segment of survivors who never come to terms with cancer and the corresponding emotional struggle. Each journey begins with a blank canvas. Ideally the evolution of the journey hopefully paints a satisfying serene tapestry. Wish you the best to live life with a colorful palette.
Realistically for many survivors the journey, unfortunately, reflects the perpetuating toil of dealing with cancer. Lingering contributors of turmoil are many be it physical or psychological. Survivors have known this prolonged struggle for decades. Research continues to focus on the physical aspects of cancer in search for treatments prolonging life. Use of the phrase, quality of life, though often used seems more attentive to the optics of short-term care than addressing long-term care. For whatever reason attention to long-term cancer care continues to fall short of survivors needs. Conflicting reasons could be; the patient has completed physical treatment, the cost of care, an issue of revenue, Medicare/Medicaid and insurance reimbursements and uncertainty of the market for long-term care. It seems from survivor's perspectives and expectations cancer care due to long-term physical side effects and lingering emotional effects deserves the commitment of extended care. It's encouraging to see research and studies giving consideration to the overdue subject of long-term care. Hopefully, these endeavors continue to induce responsiveness from the health-care industry to expand services to address the long-term needs of the ever expanding survivor pool.
Anxiety and a sense of purgatory often accompany the need for cancer survivors to cope long-term. The need for long-term care continues to draw inadequate attention from the health care industry. Thank you to cancer centers for extending life beyond previous decades. Consequently the pool of survivors will grow and continue to grow for the next decade. Thus the need for long-term cancer care will be greater than any other time in history. This ever changing landscape deserves expanded attention to serve the needs of survivors and families. The newly diagnosed and patients in treatment deservedly require the most attention. Long-term survivors, a relative term, appear to be the forgotten segment of cancer care.
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