After Effects

blitzbob`
blitzbob` Member Posts: 17
edited March 2014 in Long-Term Effects of Treatment #1
Hi After reading all your comments about the after effects of caner treatment I am beginning to think that it is better to survive without the treatment unless its a blockage and life or death
No one ever seems to be the same ,menatlly or physically its such draining treatment I have a theory thats if its non aggressive it wont kill you for a long time anyway and you have your life as it was if its aggressive it seems to get people in the end

Comments

  • grannyfranny
    grannyfranny Member Posts: 42
    #2
    Bob, you have a point, and I wish there was a crystal ball we could look in to see if we'd end up glad or sorry about our decisions on treatment. But we all react differently to various kinds of treatment, and your experience could be quite different from someone else's.

    If you click on "Cancer Information" at the top of this page and then click on "Treatment Decision Tools," you'll find something that might be helpful to you when you talk with your doctors.

    My own experience: I had a radical hysterectomy last August - a few weeks after surviving a pulmonary embolism! - and felt pretty rotten afterward, in pain and deeply depressed. I was frightened about the side effects of radiation, but I decided to go ahead with it to reduce the odds of a recurrence. Then I had hardly any side effects at all. When I did have a problem, I called my rad oncologist right away & she told me what to do for it. I ended up feeling much BETTER than before. I was that much better healed from surgery, I wasn't anemic any more (which I was before I was diagnosed), and I no longer had a tumor pressing on my bladder!

    I know that I'm one of the lucky ones - well, surviving the pulmonary embolism proved that! But six months ago I felt as if I'd been sick forever and would never be well again; I was sure that if my cancer did recur, I'd rather die than have another surgery. Now I know otherwise.

    I was helped through that depression by a number of things, including antidepressants. Cancer is depressing, surgery is depressing, an uncertain future is depressing - you name it, we've got it! Thank heaven, help is available.

    The best of luck to you, Bob. I hope that you and your docs come up with a treatment plan that suits your needs and improves your life.

    Fran
  • SusanHolly
    SusanHolly Member Posts: 5
    #3
    Bob, I am hoping you opted for treatment. It seems to me that the discomforts of treatment, while for some problematic, seems a risk worth taking to me. Did you discuss the long-term prognosis for your condition with your oncologist. It is my understanding that cancers do not progress at a slow-steady pace and that once a cancer spreads it can move rapidly throughout your body. I just finished 25 radiation treatments for uterine cancer and there have been a few side effects, but compared to how I felt before the surgery and radiation treatments, this isn't much to complain about. Luckily, I haven't suffered any depression and just taking a one day at a time attitude helped me get through this. Of course my doctors, nurses and radiation therapists were wonderful too and that sure helped make this much easier. Hope all goes well with you!

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