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End of treatment—laugh or cry?
Psycho-Oncology Specialist, Claremont, CA
Compared with the close monitoring and almost daily contact patients have with physicians and staff, the end of chemotherapy or a course of radiation treatment feels to many patients as though they are being “dropped off a cliff.” They may be glad to be finished with these procedures, but the end of treatment represents a new era of doubt and worry: Will I be all right without the supervision of my doctors and nurses? What if my cancer comes back? How do I get back to normal? Physicians can greatly help—or hinder—patients during this fragile period. A number of comments, both positive and negative, are enumerated, as well as an explanation of patients’ states of mind.
| Commun Oncol 2004;1:179–181 | full text |  73 kb |