You've adopted a proactive attitude, included
friends and family in your support group and become an expert
on your diagnosis. Now it's time to explore the different
treatment options available to you, organize all your research
and get second opinions so you can make the best possible
treatment choice. In this section we address why you need
to do this, how to do it, and how to deal with any resistors
you may encounter on your journey.
This may also be a place where you and your
Personal Advocate may want to contact a CPA to help you pull
an individualized and customized plan together.
Reviewing Your Treatment
Options
Time to roll up your sleeves, elicit the help
of your personal advocate and CPA if you've used one and finish
researching the best treatment option for your type of cancer.
Know that there are many choices. Make sure to check into
old standards, new treatments, and cutting edge clinical trials.
Treatment Options; It's Up to You
Which treatment you choose depends on a number
of factors, including:
The type and stage of development of your particular
cancer
Your age, your general health and your previous medical
history
Your confidence in your treating oncologist and your
trust in his or her advice
Your willingness and ability to cope with the possibly
debilitating physical, emotional, and spiritual side effects
of each of treatments
Your values; in other words, the more vague but no less
significant issues such as quality of life, priorities,
finances and personal relationships and life style
There can be many ways to treat each type of
cancer and new approaches are being developed and tested all
the time. It behooves the pro-active patient to find out as
much as possible about what's out there and which approach
has the best rate of success for him or her specifically.
Here are the major treatment options:
Surgery involves cutting
out the malignant (cancerous) tumor
Chemotherapy generally
involves the intravenous injection and infusion through either
an I.V. or a shunt implanted in your arm, chest wall or under
your clavicle (collarbone) of one or more cancer-fighting
drugs into the bloodstream. Some chemotherapies such
as Gleevac can be taken orally. These various combinations
of drugs or "cocktails" are called protocols, and
each has its own success rate and side effects. Chemotherapy
usually requires a series of visits to your treating oncologist's
office or a treatment center; for instance, once or twice
a week for two or more periods of three weeks, with a week
off in between; and each visit lasting one to several hours.
Cryosurgery, a technique
that freezes the cancer cells
Radiofrequency ablation,
a relatively new technique using high frequency radio
waves to heat and kill cancerous tumors
Radiation therapy uses
x-ray waves to destroy cancer cells or damage them so much
that they can't multiply. It attacks specific areas of the
body where the cancer appears to be focused. More than half
of all people who have cancer receive this approach. There
are two types:
External beam radiation, or teletherapy,
directs radiation from an outside source into the
body. A machine positioned several feet from the person
being treated strikes the target area with radiation.
Typically, external beam radiation is given daily, Monday
through Friday.
Brachytherapy, or internal
therapy requires implanting a radioactive
source inside the body, near the cancerous growth.
Chemoprevention or Hormone Therapy.
This therapy essentially treats your cancer as an infection
by treating it with a vaccine. The vaccine is made from healthy
T-cells harvested from your body when you are in remission.
This requires planning and is usually done experimentally,
so it is good to be aware in advance, who is offering this
approach.
