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Updated 09/14/07

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Moving Beyond Survival:
After Treatment, What's Next?

It may come as a surprise to patients after all the attention they receive during initial cancer treatment that there is no organized system to insure survival.  Certainly getting through treatment-surgery, chemotherapy and/or radiation is a challenge to survival.  But after treatment, what comes next?

If you have had cancer and are reading this now YOU ARE A SURVIVOR.  (The technical definition is a person who had cancer 5 years ago and remains alive.  From our viewpoint, survivorship begins at the moment of diagnosis.)  You join the over 10 million people who have survived cancer.  Grateful to be alive, nevertheless you probably have many questions and issues unresolved.  These may include:

  • What follow-up tests do I need?
  • How do I recover my strength?
  • How do I deal with my new identity as a cancer survivor?
  • How do I deal with fear of recurrence?
  • How do I get on with my life?    

Cancer survivorship includes both the patient and family since everyone is affected by the disease.  The Institute of Medicine report, From Cancer Patient to Cancer Survivor:  Lost in Transition (2006) divides the issues into four quadrants.

  1. Physical Well Being includes knowing what follow-up tests are useful, regaining energy and physical strength, and treating physical symptoms.
  2. Psychological Well Being deals with the emotional distress - anxiety and depression - that accompanies the diagnosis of cancer as well as the fear of recurrence and regaining a sense of control in life. 
  3. Social Well Being addresses the disruption of personal, family and social roles and relationships including sexuality, body image, and work. 
  4. Spiritual Well Being involves making sense of the experience, discovering meaning and becoming the "person who had cancer" different from the people who have never gone through it.

            We are developing a CANCER SURVIVOR PROGRAM at Buchholz Medical group, the first such program in the area.  This program is dedicated to insuring that cancer survivors - that includes patients in active treatment, too - receive the correct treatment and follow up with attention to all the four quadrants listed above.  We will offer individual consultations that assess future risks based on past treatments, integration of complementary treatments with conventional treatment, and a plan for follow-up testing.  Dr. Susan Buchholz and other staff members are available if there are special needs for issues of psychological well being.

            An important part of this Survivor Program will be a series of free workshops dealing with various issues of survivorship.  The first workshop was on Saturday Nov. 3, 2007.

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  Please watch this page or contact us for information on the next program.

 

  
 

Cancer Survivors Program

Bibliography

Websites

http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics

National Cancer Institute.  Describes different cancers and treatments.  Can download/order free publications.          

http://www.nccn.org/patients/patient_gls.asp

National Comprehensive Cancer Network guidelines for various cancers written for patients.  Doctors use these guidelines to decide on treatment.          

http://nccam.nih.gov/           National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, National Institutes of Health

http://health.nih.gov/search.asp/4            National Institutes of Health: Cancer  includes specific cancers and clinical trials information

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/cancer-survivor/CA00061            

Mayo Clinic website with articles on survivorship

http://www.medicinenet.com/cancer/focus.htm

lists different types of cancer and follow up procedures

http://www.cancersupportivecare.com

Provides information about specific types of cancer, treatments, coping, survivorship and supportive care.            Dr. RosenbaumÕs book, EveryoneÕs Guide to Cancer Survivorship will be available autumn, 2007.

Books

From Cancer Patient to Cancer Survivor: Lost in Transition.  Institute of Medicine and National Research Council.  National Academies Press, Washington, DC. 2006

Feuerstein, Michael and Findley, Patricia. The Cancer SurvivorÕs Guide. Marlow & Co. NY, 2006

Sieber, Al. The Survivor Personality Penguin/Putnam, NY 1966

Gonzales, Laurence. Deep survivalÑWho Lives, Who Dies, and Why WW Norton, NY 2003

Katie, Byron Loving What IsÑFour questions that can change your life  Three Rivers Press, NY 2002   www.thework.com

Articles

Pierce JP et al. Greater survival after breast cancer in physically active women with high vegetable-fruit intake regardless of obesity. J Clin Oncol 2007 Jun 10; 25:2345-51.

Handouts

The following are from the Mayo Clinic.  They are pretty general but offer accurate advice.

Cancer survivors: Managing your emotions after cancer treatment

 Cancer survivors experience many emotions as they end their cancer treatment.

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/cancer-survivor/CA00071

Cancer survivors: Late effects of cancer treatment

 Cancer survivors can experience side effects long after their cancer treatment ends.

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/cancer-survivor/CA00073

Cancer survivors: Relationships with family and friends after treatment

 Cancer survivors often find that relationships with friends and family change after cancer treatment.

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/cancer-survivor/CA00072

Cancer survivors: Take care of your body after treatment

 Cancer survivors can improve their health after cancer treatment with simple changes.

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/cancer-survivor/CA00070

Cancer survivors: What to expect with follow-up care

 Cancer survivors Ñ What to expect from follow-up care after cancer treatment.

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/cancer-survivor/CA00025

Support groups: Find information, encouragement and camaraderie

 Support groups offer information, encouragement and camaraderie. Here's how to choose the right one.

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/support-groups/MH00002

Cancer survivors: What to expect with follow-up care

 Cancer survivors Ñ What to expect from follow-up care after cancer treatment.

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/cancer-survivor/CA00025

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