Life After Cancer: The Importance of Follow-up Care

[Mary]

Young adults often feel the need to leave the cancer experience behind and move on with their lives without looking back. While this is an understandable reaction to the emotional upheaval of cancer treatment, it is a reaction that can have serious consequences for our health and our future! Please understand that follow-up care is not just about seeking help when you have a problem. The right follow-up care can catch underlying health issues before you have symptoms, can help prevent health issues or even reverse them. Everyone needs follow-up care, no matter how far out of treatment! And look at it this way: this is actually an opportunity to have some control over your health, to be proactive instead of just letting things happen.

If there is anything that you learn from this section in our forum, I hope it will be that your health is still a major part of your life. Some effects of cancer treatment do not show up until later in life; this is why it's important for you to do your part in monitoring your health. There are guidelines that will help you understand what treatment to seek. They talk about "childhood cancers" but also apply to young adults who had osteosarcoma, Ewing's sarcoma, and some advanced cases of chondrosarcoma. PLEASE read:

The Survivorship Guidelines

There are even special survivors clinics for survivors of childhood and young adult cancers. You can check to see if there is a clinic in your area that will help you obtain follow-up support and care.

The bone cancer treatment guidelines will give you an example of the standard protocol for follow-up care at the top cancer centers in the US. These radiology follow-up guidelines will also give you an idea of the type of testing that helps detect recurrence and metastasis and how often it is normally done.

A recent study concludes that the increased risk of second cancers in young survivors of childhood cancer draws attention to the importance of long-term follow-up and individualized, risk-based screening.

The Institute of Medicine’s (IOM) report, entitled From Cancer Patient to Cancer Survivor: Lost in Transition, exposes a glaring gap in the follow-up care for cancer survivors once active treatment ends. It highlights the need for patients to have a plan for their follow-up care so that they have the best chance for a lifetime of quality health care. Read more here...