You'll want to consider many things when deciding which advanced cancer treatment options are best for you. Among the most important decisions is the type and amount of treatment you want.
Some people only want treatment to manage symptoms, not treating the disease itself. This is often called palliative care. For example, if a tumor is causing pain, a person may decide to have surgery to remove as much of the tumor as possible.
This type of surgery, sometimes called debulking, is not intended to get rid of the cancer completely. It will not cure the disease. Instead, the surgeon focuses on getting rid of as much of the tumor that is causing pain as possible. This can improve a person's quality of life.
Palliative care also includes addressing your spiritual, emotional, and mental health care needs. As part of palliative care, you can meet with a social worker, a bereavement counselor, a member of the clergy (pastoral care), a financial counselor, support groups, and more. Palliative means that all of your needs are met.
At the other end of the spectrum are the most aggressive treatments available. This might include a combination of chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and surgery.
You also may be considering a clinical trial. A clinical trial is a research study. Clinical trials are designed to find out a number of things, such as determining safe doses of new medications, seeing how a particular type of cancer responds to a new treatment, and comparing the best existing treatment for your cancer with a newer treatment option.
Sometimes the newer treatment is simply a new combination of existing treatments. Sometimes it may involve a completely new medication or procedure. Either way, you'll want to carefully consider the potential risks and benefits of any clinical trial you consider.
Priorities for Your Advanced Cancer Treatment
Determining your priorities before you begin treatment is important.
- Do you want to try anything and everything the doctor has to offer in terms of treatment, regardless of negative side effects and risks?
- Do you want to focus mostly on having the best quality of life possible and feeling as good as you can while you live with colon cancer?
- Do you want to aim for something in between?
Sometimes aggressive treatments and good quality of life can be pursued hand-in-hand. Other times, aggressive treatments will decrease your quality of life due to side effects. Knowing what you want and making sure your doctor and family know what you want can go a long way toward easing your anxiety before you begin treatment.
As you weigh treatment options, you may want to ask your doctor the following questions, as suggested by the National Cancer Institute:
- What is the best outcome we can hope for with this or other treatments that are available?
- What is the goal of the treatment I am considering?
- Is the treatment focused on lessening side effects, slowing the spread of cancer, or both?
- Are there any new treatments on the horizon?
- Is there a chance that a new treatment will become available while we use this old one to buy time?
- What do you expect to happen with this treatment, both good and bad?
- What are the downsides of this treatment, such as side effects?
- How likely are the negative side effects?
- Do you believe the benefits of this treatment outweigh the potential harms for me?
No question is "too dumb". Make sure you get the information you need to make informed decisions about your care. And always keep in mind that how much information you receive about your prognosis and the type of end of life care you settle on are completely up to you.
Source:
National Cancer Institute. "Coping with Advanced Cancer" Accessed: July 11, 2010. http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/advancedcancer/page2
