Six Things You Shouldn't Assume About Cancer Care

Being diagnosed with cancer is scary. However, there are now many cancer treatments available so many cancer patients will have a promising prognosis after their diagnosis. 

Unfortunately, there is still a lot of misinformation out there regarding cancer treatment. The following are six things you shouldn't assume about cancer care. 

Cancer care is always painful.

Some cancers can be successfully treated without a significant amount of pain or discomfort. Treatments like chemotherapy and radiation therapy may involve side effects like nausea, headaches, and bruising. If painful or uncomfortable side effects do occur, your doctor can provide you with pain medication to cope with them. 

Surgery always completely removes cancerous cells.

Surgery is often recommended as part of cancer care to remove a tumor and cancerous cells from a patient's body.

While the goal of surgery is typically to remove as much of the tumor and cancerous cells as possible, surgery doesn't always remove all cancerous cells. Sometimes, removing all of a tumor could cause organ damage. In this case, some of the tumor must be left behind. 

Your life will completely change once you begin cancer care.

Patients shouldn't overestimate the impact that undergoing cancer treatment will have on their everyday life. Some types of cancer treatment have few side effects and won't really change a patient's life at all.

Patients can often continue many of their favorite activities and fulfill their personal and professional responsibilities while undergoing cancer treatment. 

Cancer care is over once you're in remission.

Most types of cancer care require at least some ongoing treatment after a patient is in remission. Patients will probably have to undergo maintenance therapy in the future to make sure that their cancer hasn't returned or spread to another part of their body. 

You'll get the same cancer care that everyone else gets.

Cancer care is typically customized for every patient's unique situation. You can't assume that you'll undergo the same exact treatment procedures that someone you know who had the same type of cancer went through. 

Your prognosis will definitely be poor if your cancer was not detected early.

While early detection is indeed important for surviving many types of cancer, that doesn't mean that your odds of survival are very low just because you have cancer that was detected late. Many cancers spread very slowly so they can still be successfully treated even if they were not detected when they first began developing.  

For more info about cancer care, contact a local company. 

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