When cancer treatment comes to an end, a new life begins for the survivor. There are several aspects to be considered before the survivor could get back to a “normal” life.
Largely, post successful treatment, survivors have to focus on two aspects:
- building the physical capacity to get to a normal life.
- addressing the psychological & emotional capacity to get back to normalcy.
Generally, rehabilitative care is essential to address the physical capacities to get back to a regular everyday living. Based on the type of cancer, and the kind of treatment, rehabilitation varies. Usually this includes physical therapy & exercise therapy to improve mobility, pain management techniques, nutritional counselling and anxiety reduction. Studies show that not having proper rehabilitative care after treatment could have long lasting psychological issues with the survivor.
Sometimes, the physical needs of a survivor are extremely tedious to be taken care of at home. In such scenarios, the carer feels the pressures of rehabilitation, which not just becomes ineffective for the survivor, but also leaves the carer in a difficult situation. Hence, it is better to work with a rehabilitative care facility, in order to build a rehabilitation plan before moving the survivor back home.
Apart from paying attention to the physical symptoms that are side effects of cancer treatment, long periods of treatment could also have emotional and psychological effects on the survivor and the carer. In order to integrate back into regular life, these effects need to be examined as well. People could benefit out of taking up counselling sessions, where the one-on-one interaction provides the required encouragement to work on getting back to life.
Sometimes, being part of a cancer survivors’ support group, helps connect with other survivors and discuss & exchange their personal emotional journeys.
