Oncologists are experts in evaluating the nature of cancer, how it’s treated, and the side effects of the treatments used. As cancer treatments continue to improve, oncologists constantly assess their patients’ best options but do patients always listen?
Cancer Treatments
Cancer death rates continued to decline among men, women, children, adolescents, and young adults in every significant racial and ethnic group in the United States from 2015 to 2019, according to the latest Annual Report to the Nation on the Status of Cancer. At a time when expensive new cancer treatments are increasing rapidly, patients have more therapy choices than ever before. Yet patients are kept mainly in the dark because their doctors either can’t or won’t communicate clearly.
The body is a brilliant machine designed to be strong and resilient. It heals wounds and fends off sickness. It provides T cells, which patrol the body to recognize and destroy abnormalities and invaders. Most of the time, the system self-regulates without us even being aware of its work. But sometimes, the system glitches: Cancer happens.
I admire President Biden for trying for a cancer cure moonshot, but unfortunately, cancer is not just one disease; it’s many with a range of different causes, physiologies, and treatments. What treatment works in one patient may not work in another, but we must keep trying to beat cancer any way we can.
(Stat News) Today, a study followed 380 patients being treated at community oncology groups across the U.S. after they were diagnosed with metastatic colon cancer. They told the researchers that insurance didn’t protect them from serious money problems. While 98% of them had insurance, 71% fell deeper into debt, took out a new loan, sold or refinanced a home, or experienced at least a 20% decline in income — or a combination of these over the year they answered quarterly surveys.