Completing Treatment What Next?

by Susan Leigh, RN, Cancer Survivorship Consultant

Article from: Lymphoma Update Newsletter, Spring 2001, Volume 7 Number 1

The anticipation has been building for weeks-maybe months. It is finally time for what you hope will be your last treatment. No more needles, chemotherapy or radiation-at least for now! No more fatigue, pain or nausea-you hope! But is it really over once your treatment is completed? Can you really relax and forget about your cancer or have your life return to the “normal” you knew before your diagnosis?

No matter how you put the experience behind you, it is now a permanent piece of the puzzle that makes up your life. As long-term lymphoma survivor Dr. Wendy Harpham states in her book, After Cancer: A Guide to Your New Life, “One of the hardest aspects of completing treatment is that the average observer seems to expect you to feel only relief and joy. The average person does not recognize the stress of completing therapy. You may keep your fears and anxieties to yourself to avoid sounding ungrateful or pathologically depressed.”

How you adjust to life after cancer will be up to you. While you may no longer be considered a patient, you may not feel entirely healthy either. Ambiguity often defines this period of time when you initially complete therapy. You might find yourself hovering between joy and sadness, hope and fear, i.e., thankful to be alive, hopeful that you are free of disease, yet fearful of what your future may hold. Life after cancer can be full of even more unknowns than life with cancer.

So, what can we do to optimize our chances for a healthy life after therapy is completed?

Request an exit interview with your healthcare team. Have them write down a proposed time frame for upcoming exams; medical or diagnostic tests to be done; possible risk factors specific to your individual case; and any expected or lingering effects of therapy.

Have them make copies for you of pertinent medical records. These would include surgical and pathology reports; details of all cancer treatments; any problems that may have occurred during therapy; and any medical summaries from different members of your healthcare team.

Give the name and phone number of someone you can call if you become anxious or have questions. This may be an oncology nurse or social worker that has a relationship with you. They are often much easier to contact than your physician, can frequently answer many of your questions and can help decipher symphonies that ay warrant further examination. They also can refer you to support groups or other community resources that offer continuing support to survivors who are no longer receiving treatment or are on maintenance therapy.

Find a way to keep trace of your medical history. Create you own system or purchase one to save your medical records. This cold be a large envelope, a pocket file or a binder with appropriate dividers. The important point is to keep all this information yourself so that no matter what healthcare provider you see in the future, you always have a record of your prior diagnosis, treatments (dates, doses, etc.), lingering effects (e.g., fatigue), risk factors (thyroid dysfunction, infertility), and follow-up plan.

Enhance or develop your personal advocacy skills. This can start with self advocacy and learning from a program like the Cancer Survival Toolbox; group advocacy to help others in your own community; organizational and political advocacy by joining, learning from, or working with LRFA and related groups to make your voice heard on state and federal levels for cancer-related issues.

Completing therapy is a time for celebration, but it is not without it’s challenges. Fortunately, many resources are now available to help us with this transition. While advances in science and medicine are giving us new hope in treating lymphomas, we also are seeing greater access to support services that help us survive the trauma of the experience. With increasing numbers of survivors living many years after their initial diagnosis, we are learning that continued support, accurate information and accessible healthcare are crucial for those of us who are fortunate to be long-term survivors. Our lives will depend upon it!

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