Study: Cancer Survivors Not Getting Needed Tests


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June 4, 2009

Cancer survivors are at high risk for late effects, second cancers and cancer recurrence, which can occur years after treatment. But a new study finds that not enough cancer survivors are receiving mammograms, colonoscopies or skin cancer screenings as often as recommended.

According to an Associated Press article, "Study: Cancer Survivors Not Getting Needed Tests," there are a number of reasons survivors do not get needed tests. In some cases, the psychological burden of getting tested and potentially finding a recurrence is the problem, and some people may avoid screening tests because they want to put their negative cancer experience behind them. Still others find that doctors might think the patient is overreacting, or in too many cases survivors do not know the specific treatments they received.

In many of these cases, a survivorship care plan can be a helpful tool to keep track of treatment dates, dosages administered, and follow-up guidelines for care. NCCS provides a great deal of useful information about survivorship care planning and recently launched Journey Forward, a free program that builds individualized survivorship care plans and provides ASCO surveillance guidelines and resources for doctors and patients. NCCS is also leading the charge for passing the Comprehensive Cancer Care Improvement Act (H.R. 1844), which calls for the development of cancer care plans.

 

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Submitted by: Gerty Bataille
July 19, 2009

Ten years after cancer I finally have the courage to look into late side effects of chemotherapy. After I was done with chemotherapy I did not want to hear the word cancer again. It was gone and that was it. But it is not it. Your life has chaned somehow. Forever. And in my country they say too much that you have to lived with it; those side effects. So you do not know how helpful it is to read about them on your site and the site of the Lance Armstrong Foudation. Thank you so much to both of you.

 

Submitted by: katkan
June 27, 2009

As a recurrence survivor, I found that my doctors didn't take my concerns seriously and I had to fight for four months to get the MRI I needed to prove to them that I had a second cancer. By then it was stage four. I am alive today because I didn't give up, didn't take no for an answer and didn't settle for less. My self advoating changed hospital policy, saved my life and hopefully saved the lives of other women whose breast cancer was not found in mammagrams the first or second time. Young women have dense breasts. Mammagrams are not always our firends. I worte a book about my battle titled, SURVIVING CANCERLAND.

 

SURVIVOR PROFILES

Merv Williams, three-year prostate cancer survivor

Life has many challenges, but it’s our response to the toughest tests that proves our mettle. When I was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2007, I knew I had no other choice but to survive first and then make the most of my experience.
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