Cancer Wellness: What Does This Mean?
Cancer Wellness: What Does This Mean?
By MaryAnn Fragola, DNP, Chief of Wellness Services
When we talk about patients with a cancer diagnosis, we tend not to consider “wellness,” but even with a chronic illness, you can “live well.” When we speak about cancer wellness, it is about living your best life and encouraging what may lead to an improved quality of life.
Wellness takes into account your lifestyle as a whole as a multi-disciplinary approach to care, encompassing your physical health, mental health, emotional and spiritual health as well.
Nourishing the body with good nutrition and nutritional management specific to your needs. This can encompass so many factors. Patients have specific goals, and working with a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist can help meet these goals while improving how you tolerate your treatments in general.
Strengthening your body with Physical therapy and participating in PT as part of your treatment plan can restore physical function and strength, helping to maintain or regain and improve your QOL. Even moderate exercise (walking, biking, swimming) for about 30 minutes every—or almost every—day has been studied to reduce anxiety and depression, improve mood, and boost self-esteem. Also, when evaluating treating patients with a cancer diagnosis- debility is a large factor in treatment decision-making, so it is essential to strengthen and move your body.
Social work and mental health services assist in your emotional health. Social workers, psychologists and psychiatry all assist in helping cancer patients and their families cope with and navigate cancer. They are trained to identify social and emotional needs and provide services to meet them. They are a key member of cancer care teams.
Palliative and supportive care is also a part of wellness as it focuses on controlling symptoms and educating patients, including caregivers, as part of the whole team. It builds a better rapport and open communication and will alleviate fears should the time come when goals of care discussion become the focus. Most importantly, studies reveal that patients who are receiving palliative care have greater outcomes and extension of life.
Essentially, improving a person's overall “wellness” or quality of life has become a newer aspect of care as cancer has become more of a chronic illness. Better symptom management leads to improved tolerance, leading to better compliance with treatment regimens, including chemotherapy, immunotherapy, radiation, etc., which then leads to better outcomes. Let’s make sure we offer all of our wellness services to our patients to show them just how beneficial they are in a patient's treatment plan.