Take Charge of Your Body's Well Being

Good Morning Cancer Patients and Caregivers;
When you're diagnosed with cancer your oncologist and your cancer treatment team treat the disease. Their focus is defeating your cancer and curing you. Their intent is to kill the cancer before they kill the cancer patient with the treatment. The issue I see more and more is the issue of the well being of the cancer patient not being of equal importance of focus while going through treatment. Let's face it, the oncologist, surgeon, radiologist, infusion nurse and all the other professionals on your cancer treatment team get paid whether their treatment is successful or it fails. Would their success rate change if they were paid based on the survival and cure rate of the cancer patient? What is lacking in most cancer patient treatment regimes is a combination of treatment to cure the disease coupled with  proactive patient care, so the cancer patient can; endure the grueling toxic abuse treatment creates, successfully get through the treatment rounds and recover for the next round, and enable completion of the treatment protocol.  For example, if during chemo treatment the cancer patient drops 10 percent of their body weight, they are putting their body's well being at risk. They lose body mass and strength, have reduced their nutritional replenishment needed to meet the recovery and nutritional needs of their body as well as reduced the capability of the body to fight infection. As the body becomes weaker, the ability to sustain normal living becomes more challenging. The cycle of self-degradation from cancer treatment continues. Most of the time a feeding tube is inserted into the stomach to ensure the cancer patient is receiving adequate nutrition. This occurs as a result of the lost body weight. It is a reactive remedy to the lost body weight, body strength and lost nutritional needs to endure cancer treatment, rather than a proactive remedy that works with the cancer patient during treatment to maintain body weight and physical strength, increase their nutritional requirements and ward off infections.When the oncologist prescribes the product Boost or Ensure to supplement the cancer patient's nutritional needs, or requires a feeding tube be inserted, the cancer patient has neglected taking charge of their body's well being. They have allowed the cancer treatment process to take charge of their body's well being with one of many reactive remedies.

The body's ability to fight cancer, endure the treatment process, stay strong, recover from each treatment round and ward off infection is one tough task that needs the commitment and rigor of the cancer patient. It's one tough journey for you and your body. Don't let the treatment process take charge of your body's well being. It could happen at some time anyway but if you take charge of your body's well being, you increase your ability to endure the treatment and improve the success of your treatment.