"How long will it take to heal?" After suffering from lung cancer, Lao Zhang felt like he was carrying a bomb.
Lao Zhang is 52 years old this year, smoked for many years, and did not escape the punishment of lung cancer, because chest pain coughed up blood to find lung cancer stage II, and after surgery, he also had to do chemotherapy. After the first chemotherapy, Lao Zhang was very uncomfortable, nauseous, vomiting, unable to eat, looking very emaciated, yellowing, weak, he wanted to end this kind of life quickly.
Anti-cancer is actually a protracted battle, and it is not a day's work to succeed in fighting cancer. Generally speaking, most people will go through three stages of cancer treatment, the first treatment period, the maintenance treatment period, the treatment window period, and if it finally recurs, then add the recurrence treatment period. Taking the three main stages as an example, in order to recover, the focus of each treatment stage is different, requiring patients and families to do a lot of work.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="40" >, the first treatment period: The opportunity for "first diagnosis and first treatment" is very critical</h1>
The first treatment period, which also literally means, is the stage from the diagnosis of the patient to the first round of treatment in remission. This stage is also a critical period in the entire fight against cancer, and the degree of remission after treatment often directly affects the prognosis and survival of patients. Therefore, the course of treatment at this stage usually lasts from half a year to 1 year, and if the tumor is detected early and surgically removed immediately, then this time will be relatively short.
Dealing with lung cancer for more than 30 years, Xiong Fei, director of the Department of Thoracic Surgery of Hubei Provincial Cancer Hospital and chief expert of lung cancer surgery, called on patients in media interviews to pay attention to the first diagnosis and treatment of cancer! To individually determine the treatment method according to the stage and type, whether it is direct surgery or adjuvant chemotherapy first, this is very important!
Director Xiong Fei shared his years of clinical experience, for patients with stage I lung cancer, surgery can be completely cured; and stage II lung cancer, it is necessary to treat comprehensively with surgery as the mainstay, and radiotherapy and chemotherapy are needed after surgery; phase III patients are already relatively serious, diagnosis and treatment are relatively complex, slight deviations, will also affect the follow-up; to stage IV lung cancer, it is drug-based treatment.
The first diagnosis and treatment requires the formulation of a personalized comprehensive treatment plan according to the patient, and this stage focuses on the elimination of postoperative complications of the patient and the mitigation of the toxic side effects of radiotherapy and chemotherapy. And in this period, we must choose a professional doctor, standardize treatment, and do not take a detour, because there is almost no second chance for tumor radical treatment. For example, some patients need to surgically remove the tumor, but it is difficult to avoid the removal of the necessary normal organs, if the first operation is not done well, whether the body can tolerate the second operation is difficult to say, even if the second operation can be remedied, the difficulty of the operation and the trauma caused to the patient is greatly increased.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="39" >2. Treatment maintenance period: Focus on the toxic side effects of treatment</h1>
The maintenance treatment period refers to the pattern in which a cancer patient, after completing initial treatment and having his condition under control, discontinues his or her original treatment regimen and switches to another regimen for the next course of treatment until the disease progresses. For example, lung cancer, some patients after surgery, the condition is relieved, but lung cancer is a cancer with a high recurrence rate, usually requires chemotherapy or traditional Chinese medicine treatment and other maintenance treatment.
At this stage, due to the continuous "carcinogenic" process, the patient's body may be uncomfortable, such as the toxic side effects of chemotherapy, the patient will show local reactions, such as pain in the vein area, redness, or necrosis of local tissues; systemic reactions, such as gastrointestinal reactions, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, different degrees of hair loss, decreased resistance, fever, bleeding, cardiotoxicity, liver toxicity, etc.
Chemotherapy drugs have a strong killing power on cancer cells that proliferate rapidly, and at the same time, they will also cause normal tissue cells to have different degrees of influence, causing corresponding side effects. In fact, it is not difficult to alleviate the toxic side effects of chemotherapy, and traditional Chinese medicine treatment throughout the entire treatment cycle is a more commonly used treatment method, combined with traditional Chinese medicine to correct treatment, reduce side effects, and reduce the pain of patients.
The second is diet collocation, diet should pay special attention to eating easy to digest food, avoid overeating, eat more high-quality protein foods, can speed up the patient's recovery from the side effects of chemotherapy. The most important thing is that patients should maintain a good psychological state, establish confidence in overcoming the disease, emotions play a key role in the entire treatment stage, and a good attitude can play an auxiliary role.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="14" >3, treatment window period: 1 year, 3 years, 5 years are all kaner</h1>
The "empty window period" of treatment refers to the period of time after the patient undergoes surgery and adjuvant chemoradiation to the time before the recurrence of metastasis, during which the patient is in the observation and follow-up stage, and there is no targeted treatment, that is, the "empty window period" of treatment.
1 to 3 years after the first treatment is a high risk period for cancer recurrence and metastasis, which occurs in about 90% of patients. The indicators to measure cancer treatment are one-year survival rate, three-year survival rate, five-year survival rate, if there is no recurrence after 5 years of treatment, basically achieved clinical cure. During this period, the focus should be on preventing recurrence.
Dr. Liang Hanlin of Zhongshan People's Hospital said that in the clinic, cancer patients are slack due to the slack of the "empty window period", and the phenomenon of cancer "making a comeback" is very common, so we must pay attention to the prevention work after cure:
1. Avoid risk factors that promote the development of cancer cells
Smoking, drinking, irregular sleep, lack of exercise, etc. are all factors that can induce cancer recurrence, and eliminating and avoiding these factors as much as possible is the key to inhibiting cancer recurrence. In addition to external factors, internal factors are also the key, stress can lead to overwork weakness and thus cause a decline in immune function, endocrine disorders, metabolic disorders in the body, excessive mental tension and adverse stimulation, will awaken cancer cells in the body.
2. Balanced diet and nutrition
Nutritional therapy and its treatment in tumor rehabilitation treatment is also in a very important position, in the anti-cancer period of balanced diet is to ensure that the body's normal function is the key, in the diet, the overall principle is: eat more plant foods, choose a low-fat diet, intake of lean protein, limit sugar, alcohol, processed meat three rough cancer intake.
3. Strengthen physical exercise and improve physical fitness
By exercising regularly and without excessive strenuous exercise, the number of immune cells in the body will increase. Proper exercise can not only promote fat burning and achieve weight loss, but also promote apoptosis of cancer cells, and it is also a good recipe for activating natural killer cells.
For cancer patients, exercise is not in the quantity, but in the quality, Qigong, jogging and other sports are very suitable for patients to exercise, choose a suitable exercise mode, adhere to exercise, can mobilize the whole body active exercise, enhance the ability to resist disease.
4. Regularly review and monitor the condition
Review includes self-examinations and regular check-ups in the hospital, and early detection of abnormalities can help to adjust treatment options in a timely manner, and if cancer cells reappear, they can be strangled in the cradle. When the body appears weak, loss of appetite, weight loss, anemia and other manifestations, do not hesitate, go to the hospital in time to check the situation.
Generally speaking, the first year after surgery, every three months, every 2 years after surgery, every six months; after 2 years after surgery, do 1 to 2 detailed physical examinations and laboratory examinations every year; after 5 years after surgery, you can consider re-examination every 1 year.
Most cancer patients will go through the three stages of the first treatment period, the maintenance treatment period, and the treatment window period, hoping that everyone can do a good job in each stage of rehabilitation to prevent recurrence. Even if it recurs, do not fall into despair, continue to standardize treatment, and still have the hope of long-term survival with tumors. #Doctor to debunk ##健康明星计划 #
Resources:
[1] "Cancer treatment stage 3, 1 year, 3 years, 5 years are all kan!" It is only "clinical cure" to survive it. Guangzhou Outpatient Department of Longnan Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine.2021-08-31
[2] "Thoracic surgery experts who have been dealing with lung cancer for more than 30 years call for cherishing the opportunity of "first diagnosis and first treatment"" . Jimu News.021-04-15
[3] How Cancer Patients Can Prevent Recurrence. Zhongshan People's Hospital.2015-07-21
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