Women's Health

What Happens if the Cervical Cancer Treatment Stops Working?

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Cancer and its treatment often cause side effects. In addition to treatment, an important part of cancer care is relieving a woman’s symptoms and side effects. This approach is called palliative or supportive care, and it includes supporting the patient with her physical, emotional, and social needs. Cervical cancer is a cancer arising from the cervix. It is commonly characterized due to the abnormal growth of cells that have the ability to spread to other parts of the body. It’s true, cancer tends to come back. No matter how hard you fought, the possibility for it to return is always possible. And when that happens, you need to be strong for you to win the battle again. But what if your treatments have stopped working? The hardest part of your battle with cancer is when you have been through many medical treatments and nothing's working anymore. Your doctor might offer you new options, but at some point you may need to consider that treatment is not likely to improve your health or change your outcome of survival to yield positive results.

For some people who had have cervical cancer treatment and yet their cancer keeps on growing or comes back, another treatment might still cure the cancer or at least minimize the tumor size which helps you feel better and live longer. However, there are also cases where the cancer becomes resistant to all cervical cancer treatments. For example, an individual with cervical cancer has tried various treatments for cancer and yet, does not get any better. In this kind of situation, weighing the possible limited advantages of a new treatment against the possible disadvantages must be made.

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They say that the hardest part of the battle against cancer is when you’ve been through different medical treatments but none of them are working anymore. Yes, there are new options which your doctor may offer to you but that doesn’t give you the assurance that you will be okay. At some point, you should consider the fact that no more treatment might likely change your prognosis or improve your condition.

There are people who still want to get treatment for as long as they can while some opt to stop any kind of treatment and just live their life as normal as it could be. No matter what a person decides to do, it is important that the decision should make you feel as good as you can. No doctor or hospital suggests stopping the treatment of cancer even when it reaches its advanced stage, in fact, they try their level best to cure the patient and release him from any sort of pain and agony. It therefore completely lies in the consent of the patient and his family to continue the treatment or culminate it in the future. If a patient feels that opting for regular treatments can cause him some relief despite knowing the end results, then he must voice it to his doctor and indulge in further therapy sessions.

 

Palliative Care

Palliative care refers to any treatment that focuses on reducing symptoms, improving quality of life, and supporting patients and their families. Any person, regardless of age or type and stage of cancer, may receive palliative care. It works best when palliative care is started as early as required in the cancer treatment process. Palliative treatments vary widely and often include medication, nutritional changes, relaxation techniques, emotional support, and other therapies. It is a type of treatment which helps relieve symptoms but not give any proven surety to cure the disease. It could either be a cancer treatment or given simultaneously with cancer treatment. Palliative care focuses on improving the quality of life of an individual with cancer. It can also help people feel as comfortable and good as they can for as long as they can. An example of palliative care is getting treatment using drugs for symptoms such as pain and nausea. In some instances, palliative care uses treatments similar to treatments that cure cancer. However, the goal of treatment is different as palliative care does not try to treat the cancer.

People receiving palliative care could also benefit from hospice care- a special care which treats the person, not the disease. Hospice care is centered on the quality of life not the length. It is usually given at home. Hospice care is focused on giving comfort as the cancer still causes problems. During hospice care, treatments such as radiotherapy and chemotherapy are stopped but this doesn’t mean that treatments for other health conditions or problems brought about by cancer will not be addressed. Hospice care provides living a life as full as possible and getting you comfortable even if it is difficult.

Before treatment begins, talk with your health care team about the possible side effects of your specific treatment plan and palliative care options. And during and after treatment, be sure to inform your doctor or another health care team member if you are experiencing a problem so it can be addressed as quickly as possible. The more honest and quick you’ll be in diagnosing the situation, the more positive results you’ll receive in the form of elimination from pain and cure from the disease. Although recovery from cancer is not always possible, the situation in later stages may lead to terming the disease under advanced or terminal. Since the diagnosis is stressful, and advanced cancer is difficult to alleviate, it is important to have open and honest conversations with your doctor and health care team to express your feelings, preferences, and concerns.

The cure might not be within reach but there’s still room for hope. Hope that you still have time to spend good times with your family and friends. In this time of cancer treatment, it’s the chance to refocus on the things which matters most to you. Take a pause and rekindle. Now is your chance to do some things that you’ve always wanted to do. You can still make choices for yourself even if cancer is already beyond your control.