Lost in Cancer

Cancer is an ongoing battle that countless amounts of people all over the world are fighting every single day.  From all ages, whether you are 5 or 75, cancer is effecting the lives of people we all care about.  In the song, ‘I’m Gonna Love You Through It’ by Martina McBride, it says, “Cancer don’t discriminate, or care if your just 38”.  And it is sad, but true.  I decided I wanted to work with cancer as a future career because of the people it has struck, and tortured in my life already.  Cancer is becoming so common in our nation, that it seems as if it should just be a part of people’s everyday life now.  Not to say researchers and doctors aren’t sufficiently searching for a cure, but sometimes they could lose sight of the actual pain, unconmfort, and distress their patients are feeling in the process.   That should not be the case.  As I read in a New York Times article, ‘Cancer Patients, Lost in a Maze of Uneven Care’, this article talks a lot about how specific patients, as well as patient feel there is not one person throughout their battle who they can fully count on or call their “champion”.  Karen Pasqualetto is a 35-year-old woman who had just discovered she had colon cancer.  She is so young, and has already realized that the cancer is not just in her colon now, but her liver too.  Her life is slowly slipping away right before her, and her newborn babies, eyes.  “I don’t feel I have a doctor who is looking out for my care. My oncologist is terrific, but he’s an oncologist. The surgeon seems terrific, but I found him through my own diligence. I have no confidence in the system”, says Pasqualetto.  She knows each doctor is doing their job, but it seems as if she wants more of a fight or an effort in her situation. Yes, I do believe the doctors are all doing their jobs, very well I might add, however, Pasqualetto’s frustration makes sense to me.  As a cancer patient, you are seeing more than one doctor, more than one time a week.  It is a lot of tireless work, stress, and a lot of new levels of patient-doctor trust you need to learn to build.  Your main goal as a person living with cancer is to get better, and all these patients want is some answers. 

From my readings, I have come to understand that “death rates from cancer have been dropping for about 15 years in the United States, but experts say far too many patients receive inferior care. Mistakes in care can be fatal with this disease, and yet some people do not receive enough treatment, while others receive too much or the wrong kind” (Cancer Patients, Lost in a Maze of Uneven Care).  This makes the patient’s battle that much more difficult.  In reading articles as upsetting as these, it only makes my aspirations to help people with cancer grow stronger.  I hope that one day I can connect with these patients to make them feel as if I am their “champion”, and their hope to becoming healthy again.  Cancer is a terrible disease that is hurting so many people. With the help of countless doctors trying to find a cure, and support of family and friends, we can all help fight cancer together, one step at a time.  

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/29/health/29Cancer.html