Organizing Your Life
Survivorship is about total mind, body, and spirtual wellness. To live a well life, there are many issues survivors must address and managing all those things can, at times, become overwhelming. Developing a survivorship plan, starting at diagnosis, is therefore very important to the long term health and wellness of cancer survivors. The National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship (NCCS) asserts that survivorship plans should be laid out in writing and reviewed by a physician
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Dr. Julia Rowland, Director of NCI's Office of Cancer Survivorship, discusses forward thinking in cancer survivorship during an interview at the 2007 Yale Cancer Center Survivorship Symposium.
The Survivorship Plan
• helps survivors and caregivers understand the processes
• survivors can use it to better advocate for themselves
• helps survivors monitor their own health
• helps survivors participate in their care decisions
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The Institute of Medicine Recommends All Survivorship Plans Include:
Records of Care
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• all tests performed and the results
• tumor descriptions
• dates of treatments
• detailed description of treatments
• psychosocial support provided, and full contact information for physician
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Standards of Care
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• long-term plan
• short term plan
• scheduled planning updates with treatment team
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Information
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• likely recovery form treatment toxicities
• possible long-term effects of cancer and treatment
• possible recurrence of cancer
• possible effects on relationships, sexual functioning, parenting etc...
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Recommendations
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• diet and exercise plans and healhy weight maintenance
• lifestyle changes (e.g. stop smoking)
• recommended cancer screenings
• recommended psychosocial support
• genetic counseling
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Referrals
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• to specific care providers based on treatment history
• a listing of all locally available resources
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