Palliative Care At Home For Cancer Patients In Walnut Creek City, California
It might be difficult to determine when to quit therapy when you have cancer and have tried numerous treatments with no success. Cancer can spread even with the finest treatment. It’s difficult to accept but stopping cancer therapy might be the best thing for you at that point. Instead, you might concentrate on getting the treatment you need to stay comfortable and pain-free.
This publication discusses how to determine when it’s appropriate to cease therapy and concentrate on end-of-life care. You can use this information to discuss your options with your doctor and determine the best course of action for you.
What Is Palliative Care?
Palliative care is provided to patients who are suffering from a serious or life-threatening illness, such as cancer, in order to improve their quality of life. Palliative care is a type of care that focuses on the person as a whole, rather than just their illness. The goal is to prevent or alleviate the disease’s symptoms and side effects, as well as any accompanying psychological, social and spiritual problems, as early as possible.
In palliative care, the focus is on relieving symptoms rather than treating the disease itself. Patients can get palliative care in a hospital, an outpatient clinic, a long-term care facility or at home in pain management in hospice and palliative care under the direction of a physician.
Cancer Responds Best To Treatment The First Time
Tumor treatment offers optimism that the treatment will kill cancer cells and prevent them from recurring. If your tumor continues to grow despite treatment, your chances of benefiting from more treatment are slim.
Cancers with solid tumors, such as breast, colon and lung, are more difficult to treat. Sarcoma is an exception to this rule. Medical professionals are well-versed with the growth and shrinkage patterns of these malignancies throughout time, as well as how they respond to treatment. They’ve discovered that trying therapy after treatment for a long time generally yields the same results with little to no improvement.
When Should A Cancer Patient Consider Quitting Their Treatment?
If your cancer has grown or spread after three treatments, additional therapy is unlikely to make you feel better or give you a higher chance of living a longer life. An additional round of treatment could have major side effects that shorten your life and degrade the quality of your remaining days.
Despite this, many people with advanced cancer continue to get chemotherapy, even though it has little likelihood of benefitting them. In the end, they’re the ones that suffer. As a result, palliative care for cancer patients is now available. To learn more, speak with our pain management support in palliative care team.
Palliative Care Addresses A Variety Of Issues
Cancer and its treatment can have vastly diverse consequences on a person’s physical and mental well-being. An individual’s personal requirements can be integrated into palliative care, which can deal with a wide range of concerns. The following concerns will be taken into account by a palliative care professional for each patient:
Physical. Pain, exhaustion, loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting, shortness of breath and sleeplessness are all common physical symptoms.
Dealing with one’s emotions & coping mechanisms. A cancer diagnosis and treatment can leave patients and families dealing with a range of emotions. Palliative care can address a variety of issues, including depression, worry and dread.
Spiritual. Patients and their families often seek deeper purpose in their lives after being diagnosed with cancer. Cancer affects people in different ways. For some, it pulls them closer to their religious or spiritual views. For others, cancer is a mystery. To find serenity or acceptance, a palliative care professional can assist patients explore their values and beliefs. This exploration can be tailored to the patient’s situation.
Needs of caregivers. Cancer patients’ families play a vital role in their care. They have shifting requirements, just like the patient. Many family members find themselves in over their heads as a result of the added duties they’ve been given. Caring for an ill relative while also attempting to juggle work, household activities and taking care of other family members is difficult for many people. Caregiver stress can be exacerbated by uncertainty about how to aid their loved one in medical situations, a lack of social support and negative feelings like anxiety and fear.
Caregiver health can be affected as a result of these difficulties. Specialists in palliative care can assist bereaved families and friends by providing the assistance they require to cope.
Needs for the sake of utility. Besides helping with pain management, palliative care chronic pain management specialists can also help with problems about money, the law, insurance and the job. Palliative care also includes talking about the patient’s goals of care. As part of this, family members, caregivers and cancer care team members will talk about advance directives and how to facilitate communication among them.
How Do You Know When To Stop Treatment?
Stopping cancer therapy and focusing on end-of-life care can be difficult for patients, families and health care providers. It’s possible your doctor will bring it up but it’s also possible you’ll have to initiate the conversation. Asking questions and getting clear answers for your palliative care and pain management from the end-of-life care specialist should be a priority.
You need to be aware of the extent of your cancer’s spread. Find out from your doctor what stage of cancer you have and how far it has spread. Inquire about your prognosis or the expected length of your life span, with your doctor. There is no way to know for sure but your doctor should be able to give you an estimate in the months or years.
You’ll want to know if receiving more cancer therapy would extend your life span. Request that your doctor go over the advantages and disadvantages of any treatment. It’s possible that fighting cancer isn’t the best option for you anymore.
Clinical trials may be a possibility if no other therapies are available and you wish to try something new. New treatments are tested in clinical trials. Consult with your physician to see if you qualify for hospice care or Contact Melodia Care for more information.
You can obtain help with your symptoms and overall well-being at any point in your treatment. This is referred to as comfort care and pain control in palliative care. It is frequently necessary when undergoing cancer treatment. It’s time to put even more emphasis on palliative care if you decide you don’t want any more cancer therapy.
Quality Of Life Is Enhanced By Palliative Care
Palliative care is an additional level of assistance for people with cancer and their loved ones. It doesn’t cure cancer but it does assist with symptoms like pain and fatigue. Your family can make the most of their remaining time together by using this technique.
Getting physical, emotional and spiritual support through palliative care and pain management can help you cope with your illness. If you’re suffering from any of these symptoms or from depression, you should get professional assistance. There are situations when your doctor can provide palliative care. A skilled palliative care team may also work together with you and your medical professionals to offer the services you require. Using palliative therapy, for example, may be useful even when treating symptoms like pain using a non-active therapeutic method. To find out if that’s an option for you, speak with your cancer or palliative care team.
There are palliative care specialists who have formal training and/or certification in providing palliative care. They focus on the physical, emotional, social and spiritual concerns cancer patients may confront while undergoing treatment. They provide holistic care to the patient and their family or caregiver.
A multidisciplinary team of doctors, nurses, qualified dieticians, pharmacists, chaplains, psychologists and social workers sometimes include palliative care professionals. Your cancer care team and the palliative care team work together to coordinate your care and ensure that you have the best possible quality of life during your treatment and afterward.
Additionally, palliative care professionals offer assistance to caregivers by facilitating communication among the patient’s healthcare team and by participating in discussions about the patient’s care goals.
A hospice facility, your home or a hospital may all offer palliative care services. The following are examples of products and services we offer:
- Medical attention from a doctor and nurses
- Alleviation of suffering
- The use of medical supplies and medications to treat symptoms
- Family and friend grief therapy
- Services provided by a social worker
- Respite care
List Of Questions To Ask Your Care Provider
When discussing palliative care with your doctor, let him or her know how much more information about your cancer you would like to receive.
Consult with your physician about the following:
- How long would my life expectancy increase if I receive additional care?
- Are there any negative consequences of not receiving more care?
- More care is aimed at what, exactly?
- My cancer has spread but I’m not sure how much better I’ll feel if I get therapy.
- Exactly how should I deal with the symptoms and side effects of this medication?
- So, what can I do to improve my overall well-being?
- Should I meet with a palliative care specialist?
Melodia Care supports a range of initiatives in the fields of pain control and palliative care, including clinical trials. For information on supportive and palliative care clinical studies, contact the Melodia Care Cancer Information Service at 1-888 635-6347 (MELODI-7).