Finding out more
It is easy to see why people with cancer think about alternative methods. You want to do
all you can to fight the cancer, and the idea of a treatment with few or no side effects
sounds great. Sometimes medical treatments like chemo can be hard to take, or they may
no longer be working. But the truth is that most of these alternative methods have not
been tested and proven to work in treating cancer.
As you think about your options, here are 3 important steps you can take:
· Look for "red flags" that suggest fraud. Does the method promise to cure all or most
cancers? Are you told not to have regular medical treatments? Is the treatment a
"secret" that requires you to visit certain providers or travel to another country?
· Talk to your doctor or nurse about any method you are thinking of using.
· Contact us at 1-800-227-2345 to learn more about complementary and alternative
methods in general and to find out about the specific methods you are looking at.
The choice is yours
Decisions about how to treat or manage your cancer are always yours to make. If you
want to use a non-standard treatment, learn all you can about the method and talk to your
doctor about it. With good information and the support of your health care team, you may
be able to safely use the methods that can help you while avoiding those that could be
harmful.
Some questions to ask your doctor about
mesothelioma
As you cope with cancer and cancer treatment, you need to have honest, open talks with
your doctor. You should feel free to ask any question that's on your mind, no matter how
small it might seem. Here are some questions you might want to ask. Be sure to add your
own questions as you think of them. Nurses, social workers, and other members of the
treatment team may also be able to answer many of your questions.
· Would you please write down the exact kind of cancer I have?
· Has the cancer spread beyond the place where it started?
· What is the stage of the cancer and what does that mean for me?
· Are there other tests that need to be done before we can decide on treatment?
· Are there other doctors I need to see?
· How often have you treated this type of cancer?
· What treatment choices do I have?
· What do you recommend and why?
· How long will treatment last? What will it involve? Where will it be done?
· Should I get a second opinion?
· What is the goal of this treatment?
· What are the risks or side effects of the treatment?
· What should I do to be ready for treatment?
· How will treatment affect my daily life?
· What type of follow-up might I need after treatment?
· What are the chances my cancer will come back after the treatments you suggest?
· What would we do if the treatment doesn't work or if the cancer comes back?
Add your own questions below:
Moving on after treatment for mesothelioma
For some people with mesothelioma, treatment may remove or destroy the cancer.
Completing treatment can be both stressful and exciting. You may be relieved to finish
treatment, but find it hard not to worry about cancer growing or coming back. (When
cancer comes back after treatment, it is called recurrence.) This is a very common
concern in people who have had cancer.
It may take a while before your fears lessen. But it may help to know that many cancer
survivors have learned to live with this uncertainty and are living full lives. Our
document, Living With Uncertainty: The Fear of Cancer Recurrence gives more detailed
information on this.
For many people, the mesothelioma may never go away completely. These people may
get regular treatments with chemo, radiation, or other treatments to help keep the cancer
in check. Learning to live with cancer that doesn’t go away can be hard and very
stressful. It has its own type of uncertainty.
Follow-up care
If you have finished treatment, your doctors will still want to watch you closely. During
these visits, your doctors will ask about symptoms, do physical exams, and order blood
tests or imaging studies (like CT scans or MRIs). Follow-up is needed to watch for
treatment side effects and to check for cancer that has come back or spread. Your doctor
will most likely want to see you fairly often (every couple of months or so) at first. The
time between visits may be longer if there are no problems.
Almost any cancer treatment can have side effects. Some may last for a few weeks or
months, but others can be permanent. Please tell your cancer care team about any
symptoms or side effects that bother you so they can help you manage them. Use this
time to ask your health care team questions and discuss any concerns you might have.
It is also important to keep health insurance. While you hope your cancer won't come
back, it could happen. If it does, you don't want to have to worry about paying for
treatment. If the cancer does recur at some point, further treatment will depend on the
place of the cancer, what treatments you've had before, and your health. Our document
When Your Cancer Comes Back: Cancer Recurrence helps you manage and cope with
this phase of your treatment.
Seeing a new doctor
At some point after your cancer is found and treated, you may find yourself in the office
of a new doctor who does not know about your cancer. It is important that you be able to
give your new doctor the exact details of your diagnosis and treatment. Make sure you
have this information handy and always keep copies for yourself:
· A copy of your pathology report from any biopsy or surgery
· If you had surgery, a copy of your operative report
· If you were in the hospital, a copy of the discharge summary that the doctor wrote
when you were sent home from the hospital
· If you had radiation treatment, a summary of the type and dose of radiation and when
and where it was given
· If you had chemo or targeted therapies, a list of your drugs, drug doses, and when you
took them
Lifestyle changes
You can't change the fact that you have had cancer. What you can change is how you live
the rest of your life – making choices to help you stay healthy and feel as well as you can.
This can be a time to look at your life in new ways. Maybe you are thinking about how to
improve your health over the long term. Some people even start during cancer treatment.
Make healthier choices
For many people, a finding out they have cancer helps them focus on their health in ways
they may not have thought much about in the past. Are there things you could do that
might make you healthier? Maybe you could try to eat better or get more exercise. Maybe
you could cut down on the alcohol, or give up tobacco. Even things like keeping your
stress level under control may help. Now is a good time to think about making changes
that can have positive effects for the rest of your life. You will feel better and you will
also be healthier.
You can start by working on those things that worry you most. Get help with those that
are harder for you. For instance, if you are thinking about quitting smoking and need
help, call the American Cancer Society at 1-800-227-2345.
It is easy to see why people with cancer think about alternative methods. You want to do
all you can to fight the cancer, and the idea of a treatment with few or no side effects
sounds great. Sometimes medical treatments like chemo can be hard to take, or they may
no longer be working. But the truth is that most of these alternative methods have not
been tested and proven to work in treating cancer.
As you think about your options, here are 3 important steps you can take:
· Look for "red flags" that suggest fraud. Does the method promise to cure all or most
cancers? Are you told not to have regular medical treatments? Is the treatment a
"secret" that requires you to visit certain providers or travel to another country?
· Talk to your doctor or nurse about any method you are thinking of using.
· Contact us at 1-800-227-2345 to learn more about complementary and alternative
methods in general and to find out about the specific methods you are looking at.
The choice is yours
Decisions about how to treat or manage your cancer are always yours to make. If you
want to use a non-standard treatment, learn all you can about the method and talk to your
doctor about it. With good information and the support of your health care team, you may
be able to safely use the methods that can help you while avoiding those that could be
harmful.
Some questions to ask your doctor about
mesothelioma
As you cope with cancer and cancer treatment, you need to have honest, open talks with
your doctor. You should feel free to ask any question that's on your mind, no matter how
small it might seem. Here are some questions you might want to ask. Be sure to add your
own questions as you think of them. Nurses, social workers, and other members of the
treatment team may also be able to answer many of your questions.
· Would you please write down the exact kind of cancer I have?
· Has the cancer spread beyond the place where it started?
· What is the stage of the cancer and what does that mean for me?
· Are there other tests that need to be done before we can decide on treatment?
· Are there other doctors I need to see?
· How often have you treated this type of cancer?
· What treatment choices do I have?
· What do you recommend and why?
· How long will treatment last? What will it involve? Where will it be done?
· Should I get a second opinion?
· What is the goal of this treatment?
· What are the risks or side effects of the treatment?
· What should I do to be ready for treatment?
· How will treatment affect my daily life?
· What type of follow-up might I need after treatment?
· What are the chances my cancer will come back after the treatments you suggest?
· What would we do if the treatment doesn't work or if the cancer comes back?
Add your own questions below:
Moving on after treatment for mesothelioma
For some people with mesothelioma, treatment may remove or destroy the cancer.
Completing treatment can be both stressful and exciting. You may be relieved to finish
treatment, but find it hard not to worry about cancer growing or coming back. (When
cancer comes back after treatment, it is called recurrence.) This is a very common
concern in people who have had cancer.
It may take a while before your fears lessen. But it may help to know that many cancer
survivors have learned to live with this uncertainty and are living full lives. Our
document, Living With Uncertainty: The Fear of Cancer Recurrence gives more detailed
information on this.
For many people, the mesothelioma may never go away completely. These people may
get regular treatments with chemo, radiation, or other treatments to help keep the cancer
in check. Learning to live with cancer that doesn’t go away can be hard and very
stressful. It has its own type of uncertainty.
Follow-up care
If you have finished treatment, your doctors will still want to watch you closely. During
these visits, your doctors will ask about symptoms, do physical exams, and order blood
tests or imaging studies (like CT scans or MRIs). Follow-up is needed to watch for
treatment side effects and to check for cancer that has come back or spread. Your doctor
will most likely want to see you fairly often (every couple of months or so) at first. The
time between visits may be longer if there are no problems.
Almost any cancer treatment can have side effects. Some may last for a few weeks or
months, but others can be permanent. Please tell your cancer care team about any
symptoms or side effects that bother you so they can help you manage them. Use this
time to ask your health care team questions and discuss any concerns you might have.
It is also important to keep health insurance. While you hope your cancer won't come
back, it could happen. If it does, you don't want to have to worry about paying for
treatment. If the cancer does recur at some point, further treatment will depend on the
place of the cancer, what treatments you've had before, and your health. Our document
When Your Cancer Comes Back: Cancer Recurrence helps you manage and cope with
this phase of your treatment.
Seeing a new doctor
At some point after your cancer is found and treated, you may find yourself in the office
of a new doctor who does not know about your cancer. It is important that you be able to
give your new doctor the exact details of your diagnosis and treatment. Make sure you
have this information handy and always keep copies for yourself:
· A copy of your pathology report from any biopsy or surgery
· If you had surgery, a copy of your operative report
· If you were in the hospital, a copy of the discharge summary that the doctor wrote
when you were sent home from the hospital
· If you had radiation treatment, a summary of the type and dose of radiation and when
and where it was given
· If you had chemo or targeted therapies, a list of your drugs, drug doses, and when you
took them
Lifestyle changes
You can't change the fact that you have had cancer. What you can change is how you live
the rest of your life – making choices to help you stay healthy and feel as well as you can.
This can be a time to look at your life in new ways. Maybe you are thinking about how to
improve your health over the long term. Some people even start during cancer treatment.
Make healthier choices
For many people, a finding out they have cancer helps them focus on their health in ways
they may not have thought much about in the past. Are there things you could do that
might make you healthier? Maybe you could try to eat better or get more exercise. Maybe
you could cut down on the alcohol, or give up tobacco. Even things like keeping your
stress level under control may help. Now is a good time to think about making changes
that can have positive effects for the rest of your life. You will feel better and you will
also be healthier.
You can start by working on those things that worry you most. Get help with those that
are harder for you. For instance, if you are thinking about quitting smoking and need
help, call the American Cancer Society at 1-800-227-2345.
