While it’s critical that you adhere to your cancer treatment program, it can take its toll on you. Many people find that it’s beneficial to enroll in cancer rehabilitation. That doesn’t mean it’s going to be right for you, though, so it’s important to know what the program is meant to address.
What Is Cancer Rehabilitation?
Cancer rehabilitation is a comprehensive program designed to support your medical regimen. It’s meant to improve your quality of life while helping you cope with the treatment’s side effects. Some people choose cancer rehabilitation because it helps them stay independent while undergoing treatment.
Your doctor should be able to recommend a rehabilitation center for you but many hospitals and cancer centers offer rehabilitation services. It’s typical to have two or three appointments per week and they’re usually outpatient treatments so you don’t have to stay in the hospital. If you get really sick, though, you may need to stay in the hospital overnight.
What Does It Help With?
Cancer treatments can have negative effects on your physical and cognitive abilities. They can also affect the way you think. Some of the issues that cancer rehabilitation can help with are numbness in your hands or feet, pain, swelling, weakness, skin changes like rashes or brittle nails, chronic fatigue, and trouble chewing or swallowing.
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Rehabilitation can also help with the sexual health issues that can develop during treatment such as problems achieving or maintaining arousal, vaginal dryness, difficulty achieving orgasm, and numbness in the genitals.
Where mobility is concerned, rehabilitation can improve your range of motion, balance, and flexibility. If you’re having trouble showering, getting dressed, climbing stairs, getting up, and walking around, it’s a good idea to get help.
Another area that cancer treatments affect is your brain. That means you can have trouble concentrating, remembering details, finding your way around familiar locations, processing new information, making decisions, putting your thoughts together, and multitasking.
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Who It’s Meant For
Cancer rehabilitation is meant for anyone who is experiencing changes in their health because of cancer treatment. It doesn’t matter if the side effects are currently mild as it’s likely for them to get worse. Some of the issues you may have include pain, weakness, trouble maintaining your balance, problems with nutrition, joint stiffness, and trouble with thinking clearly.
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If you’re not sure where your health stands before getting treated, talk to your doctor about pre-rehabilitation. In pre-rehabilitation, specialists will assess your strength, mobility, and cognitive ability before you start treatment.
They can even recommend ways you can prepare for treatment so that it’s not as jarring. This initial examination provides information that the doctors can use to see how treatment affects you.
The Specialists You May Work With
Given how many problems cancer rehabilitation is designed to address, it shouldn’t be surprising to find out that you would work with multiple specialists. For example, an oncology physical therapist helps with your mobility and pain management. Speech language pathologists specialize in speech and swallowing disorders so they can help you if you’re having trouble getting your food down. Physiatrists deal with pain management while lymphedema therapists can address the fluid build-up in your body that causes swelling. You can also meet with a dietitian who can recommend the right diet for you.
Knowing that you might see different specialists may seem overwhelming but you can handle that by asking pointed questions during your first visit. While discussing your symptoms, you can ask which specialists they would recommend for you. You can also ask if there are certain specialists you should see more frequently or if you should start with certain people before incorporating others at a later date.
Though there may be variations in their severity, all cancer treatments have side effects. It’s good to know that getting involved with cancer rehabilitation can help. Before you sign up for it, however, you should talk to your doctor about whether or not it’s right for you.
