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If you or a loved one has just been diagnosed with cancer, one of the most important things in the process following the diagnosis is understanding the different cancer treatment available. Additionally, it will benefit you to understand how to manage your emotional and mental well-being throughout the process. Let’s dive into the different cancer treatments that are available and how to deal with the process as you go through it.
- Surgery
One common way of treating cancer is through surgical procedures. Depending on where the cancer is and where it is determined to spread to, surgery is often a viable option for treatment. There are many different types of surgical procedures depending on where the cancer is located and how far it has spread. Typically surgery can be stressful and difficult to recover from.
There are different types of surgical procedures such as cryosurgery, laser surgery, and photodynamic therapy, which are all used under different circumstances with the cancer patient.
- Radiation therapy
This type of therapy for cancer, otherwise known as radiotherapy, is known to be applicable in cases where tumors need to be reduced and cancer cells need to be targeted in specific areas. The way that this therapy works is that it slows the growth of the cells over time by damaging the cells that are cancerous. Someone may be prescribed external or internal radiation therapy depending on the doctor recommendation.
External means that it comes from a machine and sends radiation to the body and internal is when liquid or solid is injected into the body which treats cancer from the inside.
- Chemotherapy
Chemotherapy, otherwise known as “chemo”, is another form of cancer treatment that uses drugs to fight cancer within someone’s body. Chemo is used with cancer patients through pills, and IV, injection, topically, intrathecal, etc. This treatment can shrink tumours, destroy cancer cells, and also help other cancer treatments work better. Chemotherapy is known to cause some intense side effects as it is known to make the patient’s hair fall out rapidly and cause severe fatigue in many people.
- Immunotherapy
This type of cancer treatment works by helping the cancer patient fight the disease through their immune system. This type of treatment is a kind of biological therapy that takes living cells to treat cancer using the power of antibodies, modulators, and cell transfer methods.
The immune system is known to fight off infections and other things that threaten the body’s safety. Although this type of treatment has been approved for multiple types of cancer, this type of treatment is not as widely used as other treatments.
- Hormone therapy
Hormone therapy as a treatment for cancer is a way to stop or slow the growth of the disease by the use of hormones. This type of treatment is also known as endocrine therapy.
Typically used in breast cancer or prostate cancer, this type of treatment can use the body’s natural hormones to manipulate the cancer cells to decrease and the tumours to shrink. There can be different side effects of this treatment from hot flashes to nausea and fatigue.
- Stem cell transplant
This type of treatment is where stem cells are placed in people with cancer in order to regrow cells and treat certain types of cancer. This treatment is typically more expensive than others because it has been newly tested and takes a lot of research to fund.
Throughout this process, it will be hard to manage your emotional and mental well-being, but this is a vital component of healing in addition to receiving treatment. Make sure that you take the proper actions to maintain your nutrition and talk to your family and friends often to maintain a strong support system. Throughout this process please maintain faith that you are strong through this journey and that you will be okay.
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