Looking beyond cancer treatments Memphis TN

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For Dummies is a registered trademark of Wiley Publishing, Inc. in the United States and other countries. Used here by license.



Beginning anew

Don’t for a minute expect that you never need darken your doctor’s door after the last of your cancer treatments. On the contrary, you will be carefully monitored for years to come. In time, you’ll even appreciate that fact.

There is a lot to expect in terms of follow-up care — regular checkups and periodic screening tests — and you can look over a list of long-term side effects that may or may not trouble you. That list includes such physical problems as the following:

Fatigue

Pain

Lymphedema

Oral problems

Bladder and bowel problems

Early menopause

Infertility or impotence

We propose that you craft a personal wellness plan to see you through the years to come.

Returning to square one

Some people finish cancer treatments and never have to confront this particular disease again. However, that may not the case — if cancer recurs months or years after treatments end.

In many cases, a recurrence can be treated as a flare-up, and cancer can be considered as a chronic disease.

Should your cancer recur, there are several reasons why the second time around may not be as trying as the first. If recurrence is as bad, or even worse, look for information on palliative care and an explanation of the mission of hospice.

Making peace with a new you

After cancer, nothing is ever really the same again. Even if you are not troubled with long-term physical side effects as a result of treatment and even if your cancer never comes back, you’ll likely find that you are different emotionally and that your standard mode of operating in the world has changed.

This is the time that you get to decide all over again who to be, what to say about yourself, and how to make changes in your life that reflect your new perspective on the gift of time. You will learn how to protect yourself as you head boldly into your brave new world.

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For Dummies is a registered trademark of Wiley Publishing, Inc. in the United States and other countries. Used here by license.

Hickory Hill Family Dentistry, P.C

9012764629
1952 Lamar
Memphis, TN