The Importance of Building a Support System during Cancer Treatment In times of crisis, it’s difficult to know where your greatest sources of strength will lie. Receiving a terminal cancer diagnosis can turn one’s life upside down both physically and psychologically. Each person’s experience is unique from the treatment methods to financial questions about funding treatment. One particularly large unknown is how friends and family will respond to the cancer crisis. Sometimes the people expected to be the biggest source of help, namely friends and family, will not necessarily respond in the way the patient hopes they will. Building the Support Team To effectively fight cancer, it helps to have support when it comes to figuring out complicated health records, juggling various appointments, caring for family, finding transportation and lodging for appointments, navigating insurance requirements, and considering financial implications. No one going through cancer treatment should also have to carry the burden of navigating the process on their own. This is why it’s critical to have the support of an advocate team throughout the process. Adding to the Support Team Assistance during a time of great need can come from a variety of sources. Some of these may include the help of friends and family while others might come from non-profit and for-profit organizations dedicated to assistance throughout the cancer journey. If support is unavailable from friends and family, it’s worthwhile to look into organizations dedicated to assistance. The following are some resources to consider in dealing with specific issues: Provision of rides to and from appointments (Road to Recovery) Securing lodging during treatment (American Cancer Lodging Programs) Assigning...
The Benefits of Having the End-of-Life Discussion before it’s too late Most conversations are merely the give and take of words with some questions and affirmative or negative answers thrown in for good measure. That sounds easy enough but when you or someone you love is facing a diagnosis of terminal cancer, the end-of-life conversation may be one of the most difficult conversations to initiate. Although incredibly difficult to begin, the conversation may be one of the most important ways to make the best of an unfortunate situation. Looking Beyond the Cancer Diagnosis In the case of a terminal cancer diagnosis, it is often difficult to know how the disease will progress. Depending on the severity of the disease and its accompanying symptoms, each cancer patient will respond differently, making it difficult to plan for the future whether that is the next week, next month or next year. This is why it is important to begin a conversation about what you or your loved ones want and need. Knowing these critical things can ensure your loved one has the experience that they desire and is one way to stop wondering if wishes were respected in the end. Tips for having a Conversation about Cancer Understandably, this is a talk many people dread to have. Although there is a clear need, few of us have the tenacity to explore this conversation without serious prompting. In fact, a recent survey from The Conversation Project found 90 percent believed it was important to have the discussion but only one-third of those surveyed actually had the conversation. As a result of this survey,...
Considerations for Out-of-Network Cancer Care Treating terminal cancer is not only tricky from the perspective of how to treat it but also how to pay for needed treatments. Many people diagnosed with cancer find before the treatment process begins, they must first determine how to pay for the cancer treatments. The deciding factors for this include age, financial resources, current employment status, existing health care insurance, government programs and possible charitable systems. Considering there’s no one-size-fits-all approach to any cancer diagnosis, it’s important to consider as many options as possible for adequate cancer care. Cancer Care: in-network or out-of-network? When filing taxes this year you might recall the necessity of showing proof of current health insurance as a part of changes related to the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Also known as Obamacare, the ACA initiative carries the intention to make private healthcare more affordable, but according to a Forbes article, the Affordable Care Act could also make it more difficult for cancer patients to go out-of-network for cancer care because of the difficulty of narrowing networks. As a result, more co-insurance is necessary for cancer care outside of designated network providers. The exception to this is care received in the emergency room. Superior Treatments just out of Reach Today, there’s a growing body of evidence showing the ability to treat more kinds of cancer more effectively by tailoring treatments to the genetic composition of the patient’s tumor. This alternative is considered more advanced than traditional treatments targeting cancer in a location of the body. While genetically matched cancer treatments are often more effective, they are also more expensive and...
The statistics for cancer in the United States are staggering. Each day, the parents of 46 children receive a cancer diagnosis and 1 in 300 develop cancer by the age of twenty, according to the American Anti-Cancer Institute. In addition to these sobering statistics, many of us also have a personal connection to a friend, family member, or acquaintance who is fighting a similar battle against cancer in the brain, stomach, breast, skin, kidney or lung. Curbing a Nation-wide Epidemic With such staggering numbers, it’s clear there is a need for an alternative to conventional methods of fighting cancer. The American Anti-Cancer Institute hopes to do just that by offering individuals fighting cancer with a way to regain their physical and economic strength. The Washington-based group strives to improve things for future generations through acculturation of traditional medicine by finding alternatives to chemotherapy and radiation for cancer and other immune degenerative diseases. Rather than solely fighting cancer through immune system-destroying methods, the Institute promotes allopathic remedies designed to boost the immune system and improve chronic pain without the need for harmful narcotic medications. The organization, led by director Bob Wright author of the book Killing Cancer – Not People, hopes to shift care of the immune system to a first-resort in disease prevention, rather than a last-ditch effort for those fighting late-stage and terminal cancer. Taking the Path Less Traveled Just as the genetic make-up of each individual is different so are the ways to fight the various forms of cancer. Conventional medicine often chooses how a cancer will be tackled, fighting some cancers with palliative therapies meant to...
There’s nothing worse than feeling you’re in a corner with no choices or alternatives. This is particularly true when a matter is outside the realm of control such as with a life-threatening health matter like brain cancer. Simply knowing there’s another option or opportunity can go a long way in raising hope for a patient and their family. The Alternative of Medical Tourism Depending on the stage of brain cancer, prognosis may take the form of surgery, radiation or chemotherapy, and/or the use of drugs. Unfortunately, these options can also be prohibitively expensive for the individual and their family, requiring many sacrifices to take advantage of these treatments. If the proscribed treatments are too expensive, individuals often have to make a choice between which treatments fit into their budgets. While some level of treatment is better than none, the need to pick and choose treatments on the basis of what is affordable adds an additional level of unnecessary stress on the patient and their family. One way people are achieving more bang for their medical buck is through medical or health tourism. This alternative offers medical services in another country. Patients work with a medical tourism company to locate a country where their particular needs can be met outside of the U.S. within their budgetary requirements. Currently, brain cancer is treated through medical tourism in India, Turkey, Germany, and Thailand. Treatment plus Rest and Relaxation Brain cancer treatments at these global facilities include general surgery, chemotherapy, radiation, and radio surgery (gamma knife therapy or proton beam therapy radiation). Many of the facilities also feature English-speaking medical staff. If English...
