Since you started on this chronic pain journey, you have had many ups and downs. After being super cautious for years about your medications, you finally followed your doctor’s advice and made some changes. You have noticed you are holding your arm looser and your pain levels have decreased. Today, your doctor told you he was proud of you and wrote you a prescription for some physical therapy sessions. You have never had enough pain control to do anything like that since right after your first surgery, so you are actually quite excited
It might seem a little strange to be looking forward to physical therapy because you know that it will push you out of your current comfort zone, but it feels like you might actually be doing something to help yourself in the long run. The crazy tornado of pain is not quite so crazy right now. Part of you is impressed and another part of you is waiting for the pain to come rushing back. Spending your life with pain levels up around eight, then to having them drop to around three to four has been transformative. You feel like a whole new, although still slightly broken, person!
Cancer Support Services Offer Many Advantages to Patients and Their Families
Another group of people who are often looking for pain relief are those who are facing difficult and lengthy cancer treatments. Fortunately, when many doctors talk to their patients about cancer support services they are focusing not just on the recommended treatments, but also pain relief and other services that can help you get back to living a more normal life. Both during and after treatment, cancer support services can help families and the patient both mentally and physically face the challenges that none of us ever want to confront.
Currently, cancer is the second leading cause of death worldwide given that as many as one in every six deaths is related to cancer. This means, of course, that any time a patient receives a cancer diagnosis there are many emotions and fears involved. Fortunately as cancer treatment centers have progresses in their care they are better at providing a wider menu of cancer support services to both families and patients. Consider some of these other facts and about the cancer and how the impact affects both the population of patients, as well as the economy of the nation:
- Although numbers can vary from one form of cancer to another, an estimated 268,600 new cases of breast cancer were diagnosed in women before the year 2019 ended.
- When all of the kinds of cancers are combines, there were approximately 1.7 million new cancer diagnoses in they year 2019 alone.
- As another fairly common diagnosed cancer, more than 174,000 people were newly diagnosed with prostate cancer in the year 2019.
No pain control is easy, but when you are dealing with a detailed cancer treatment it is important to make sure that you are dealing with the kind of support services that can help you get the results that you need. Today’s pain control options do not only focus on medications, but also other options as well. And while chiropractic care, yoga, and specific kinds of stretching and strength regimens may not be useful during cancer treatment, there are times when these options can provide significant relief to other kinds of patients. No matter what kind of diagnosis you are dealing with, it is important that you take the time to seek a second opinion if you feel it is warranted and to ask all of the questions that you need to make sure that you are getting the care that you want. When it comes to a cancer diagnosis, there are many common misconceptions that are associated with radiation and chemotherapy. Knowing how to navigate the challenges of asking the important questions is one way that cancer support services can help patients deal with the transitions that they will need to make during their treatment, as well as when that treatment is completed. From the initial diagnosis to the follow up visits, patients have many needs that will require the use of many available resources.
