According to official figures, the number of people affected by malignant tumors is growing steadily. In this regard, work with cancer patients is becoming one of the most important social tasks. The rate of disability due to diseases of this category is high. While help to cancer patients is not at a satisfactory level.
Forecasts
In the coming decades, the trend will be as follows. The number of people with a malignant tumor will be approximately 10,000,000 each year. At the moment, 1.5% of the Russian population suffers from them. More than 90% of cases were diagnosed in people over 40 years old. For the most part, we are talking about lung cancer in men and breast cancer in women. Features of the disease are manifested in the fact that rehabilitation in oncology is quite complicated. The number of those who went through it is small.
There are also postoperative complications, the situation in many patients remains difficult, the prognoses are disappointing. Suffer from tumors of a person of working age. After radical therapy, they suffer difficulties associated with the final stages of oncological rehabilitation - when they go to work.
What is rehabilitation
Rehabilitation in this case is called professional, medical measures that are aimed at preventing a person from losing capacity due to an illness. They are also measures taken to support cancer patients for returning to society. The psyche of the individual and the functional characteristics of his body are subject to restoration. It is important to develop occupational therapy, a psychotherapeutic effect.
Goals
The goals of rehabilitation are divided into three main groups. The first is recovery, it is about him when the prognosis is favorable and it is planned to return the patient to socially useful work. The second is supportive, when the treatment of cancer patients ends with their loss of capacity for work, the acquisition of disability. However, the effects can be made more moderate through therapy and training. In this case, a person is returned to a normal psycho-emotional state, to life in the family and in society.
Palliative goals include the prevention of complications during the course of the disease - pressure sores, mental disorders. In this case, the question is solved, how to accept oncology, provided that the prognosis is unfavorable. It is important to create comfortable conditions for such patients, while the cancer will progress.
Modern tendencies
In recent decades, new trends in medicine have become pronounced. For example, disease forecasts improve. At present, there are more than 2,000,000 people in the Russian Federation who have had cancer and have lived longer than 5 years from the moment of therapy. However, many of them have acquired disabilities. Because of this, they lost their ability to work, and this became a negative factor affecting their psyche.
Diagnostics began to be carried out at earlier stages, and survival increased. At the same time, modern treatment methods remain extremely aggressive, sometimes therapy ends with all kinds of large-scale violations of the body, a person often loses working capacity. However, interest in creating oncology centers is gradually growing.
The terms have changed. For example, now by recovery they began to understand not only the patient’s survival, but also his return to the social position in which he was before treatment. It should be noted that in this matter a certain role is assigned to the relatives of the cancer patient: their participation in such a process is also important.
Rehabilitation framework
The rehabilitation process begins before the therapeutic effect and lasts throughout the life of the patient. To solve this problem, many specialists from various fields of medicine are involved. For example, psychologists for cancer patients are provided free of charge; they visit physical therapy instructors and sociologists. Active programs are being launched to select the most gentle forms of surgical intervention.
The treatment programs are compiled individually, taking into account the patient's age, gender, stage of development and location of the tumor. Psychologists work with each patient in special oncology centers. Therapy aims to prevent the negative effects of the disease.
The essence of the rehabilitation of cancer patients is in restoring the human psyche and physical condition. Occupational therapy is widely used, during which patients, actively working, are released from the mental burden.
The most important area in the complex of these procedures is professional recovery. For persons who have lost their ability to work, it is envisaged to undergo training in a new profession that will be available to them.
The most important principle in the rehabilitation of cancer patients is the study of the behavior of people at different stages of cancer. The presence of a life-threatening disease is considered the strongest stress factor.
Due to long treatment, hospitalization, separation from the environment, loss of previous status, the possibility of disability, death threats, habitual behavior, the value system, and the personality undergo a fundamental restructuring. As a result, she adapts to completely new, unusual living conditions.
Rehabilitation Stages
In the rehabilitation of cancer patients, several stages are distinguished depending on the characteristics of the course of the disease. The preparatory phase involves the strong impact of therapy. Programs are selected in such a way as to preserve the anatomy of the human body, but they often lead to complications. At this stage, it is important to minimize negative side effects while providing the patient with effective treatment.
The second stage is medical. It carries out the main course of therapy aimed at getting rid of tumors. At this stage, it is important to provide the patient with pain medication, to provide a psychotherapeutic effect.
The next stage is called early recovery. At this time, all measures are aimed at restoring the vital activity of a body that has been stricken by a disease as quickly as possible. The consequences of surgical intervention, radiation therapy, side effects of aggressive effects on the body are prevented. For this, the rehabilitation of cancer patients includes a massage course, physiotherapy exercises and a number of other activities.
At the late recovery stage, separate courses are conducted aimed at compensating for the harm caused to the body during the illness and treatment, as well as at preventing relapse. Often, it is during this period that prosthetics and reconstructive surgery are performed. Important professional and social recovery. Often, a person’s diet is fundamentally changed, occupational therapy is carried out. The latter is given the most attention. For cancer patients, Nutridrink compact proteins are often prescribed to help support a weakened body. Recovery usually lasts for several years after the completion of treatment.
Current situation
At the moment, it is noted that malignant tumors are common among the population. They are among the three most common causes of death after heart attacks and strokes. However, not everyone knows about the effects of cancer. In society, it is believed that when making such a diagnosis, there are only two outcomes - miraculous healing or imminent death in the near future.
However, in reality, this is not happening. And even if a person is cured of cancer, his diagnosis is not removed. Great chance of relapse. Predictions are made only for the near future, for this reason the term "five-year survival" is introduced.
Side effects of treatment, which are extremely aggressive, negatively affect health. For this reason, the rehabilitation of cancer patients is becoming an increasingly important topic. Treatment after the main therapeutic course is essential for two-thirds of all patients.
It is unsafe to release the patient after the symptoms of the disease have been stopped and the cancer has receded. His somatic state is extremely unstable, as a rule. And it will simply be difficult for a person to survive in conditions outside the hospital. Often, some internal organs, their parts, are removed to patients. They are damaged during radiation therapy, chemical exposure, radiation. For this reason, regardless of whether the epicenter of the tumor has been destroyed, a person continues to be treated and restored for a long period. It is important at this stage to improve the quality of life of a person, to carry out his social adaptation, extend his life and relieve pain.
At the same time, stereotypes regarding the rehabilitation of cancer patients and the methods used during it are still quite fresh in society. They relate to exercise therapy, mud therapy, physiotherapy. Sometimes in the past, the presence of a malignant neoplasm in society is regarded as a contraindication to procedures that actually make an invaluable contribution to the restoration of the body affected by a serious illness.
According to official studies, massage, exercise therapy, limodrainage, together with a psychotherapeutic effect, led to a decrease in the concentration of tumor markers in the blood of those who had cancer. In addition, the mood of the patients improved significantly, they felt a surge of strength.
Psychotherapy
Psychotherapy plays a large role, because at the moment it is believed that it is chronic stress that leads to the development of cancerous tumors in the body. Consultations of a psychotherapist are important for people who, when fighting the cancer, feel depressed and lose interest in their hobbies and goals. As a rule, when removing internal organs, the patient experiences apathy, he is aware of the changes that have occurred with the body. Often a person, especially a female, suffers from aesthetic defects during treatment. For example, during chemotherapy a person loses hair.
The task of psychological rehabilitation is not entirely assigned to the patient's relatives, since no results were noted in this case. After all, these individuals are also emotionally involved in what is happening, and dialogue rarely takes on constructive features. Relatives feel sorry for the patient, and it is difficult for them to hear the patient's real desires. In addition, they themselves often need a psychotherapeutic effect.
As a rule, an oncological patient suffers from his own helplessness after a loss of working capacity. He loses the opportunity to spend his time to good use. Ergotherapy is aimed at eliminating such an effect. It includes an analysis of functional disorders in the body. Based on its results, exercises are selected for a person that will help restore his lost abilities.
Features of rehabilitation for different types of tumors
Cancer affects many internal organs. And the clinical picture depends on which one is under attack in the first place. It must be borne in mind that each type of cancer implies its own specific rehabilitation. So, if a malignant neoplasm was in the mammary gland, increased attention when the patient returns to normal life is paid to physical activity, strengthening the respiratory system. It is extremely important psychotherapeutic effect, aimed at returning to patients the feeling of taking their own body, to get rid of the complexes caused by breast removal. Rehabilitation includes breast plastic surgery.
If stomach cancer has occurred, recovery is aimed at getting rid of the pain syndrome, returning to the usual level of appetite, and strengthening the body. The thing is that because of therapy, people with stomach cancer often suffer from malnutrition.
The most common cancer among men is prostate cancer. Rehabilitation in this case is directed to control the functioning of the pelvic organs. For example, it is required to eliminate erectile dysfunction, involuntary urination. It is important that the process is controlled by a neurouroologist, psychotherapy is needed to eliminate the complexes that arise in men.
Where are the rehabilitation courses
At the moment, the recovery process for people affected by malignant tumors is provided in state institutions of the Russian Federation aimed at rehabilitating patients. It should be noted that oncology centers in the country still have many gaps. And often, patients prefer to go to private clinics.
Patients themselves note the fact that malignant neoplasms very aggressively affect the body, disrupting the activity of many internal organs. For this reason, the rehabilitation process should be long and laborious. And oncology centers are required in this case, well-equipped. Additional equipment is needed - pools, massage rooms, physiotherapy. It is important that rehabilitation centers are equipped for people with disabilities. Payment is often made in installments. The most respectable centers provide the atmosphere not of a hospital, but of a hotel. Also during rehabilitation, people often resort to the acquisition of additional funds that provide support to the body. So, the already mentioned compact protein for cancer patients Nutridrink is a liquid, ready-to-eat, high-protein, high-calorie mixture for specialized nutrition. This is a complete, balanced in composition, easily digestible food. It provides a faster rehabilitation process, but acts only as an addition to the main activities.
Keep in mind that more often than not, recovery requires additional investments. But cancer centers in Russia are free and state. The same applies to the whole range of cancer rehabilitation services - the state provides free psychologists to patients, but there are also many paid specialists.