Being diagnosed with a serious illness is stressful. While you are going through a myriad of emotions, you now have to figure out what treatment plan to undergo. Of course, your doctor will be available to discuss the following cancer therapy options with you.
Surgery
Surgery is not an option for everyone. This option depends on the location and type of tumor you have. If you are able to have surgery, a specialist will cut into the infected area and remove the growth. There are times, however, that the surgeon may not remove the entire tumor. Instead, he or she may simply debulk a large growth. By cutting it down, other cancer therapy techniques can be more effective.
While surgery typically utilizes scalpels and general anesthetics, your doctor may choose other surgical procedures. These include lasers, cryosurgery, or photodynamic surgeries. These options are typically used on growths on the surface, or just below the surface, of the skin.
Radiation
Another common treatment is radiation. With this, you will be exposed to high doses of radiation. The doses will kill the tumor cells and shrink the mass. It takes time for this method to start working. You shouldn't get discouraged if the first few treatments don't seem to do anything. However, while it can take weeks for the cells to start dying, they continue to die off weeks after your treatments have ended.
You have a couple of options for radiation treatments. The first is the traditional external beam. You are exposed to a stream of radiation over a specific area from a large machine. While the machine doesn't touch you, it has been known to be very noisy.
There are also internal radiation options. With this, the radiation is put into your body, either as a solid source or a liquid through an IV line. Unlike external bombardment, this option causes radiation to go throughout your entire body and is not targeted to one specific area.
Chemotherapy
Chemotherapy is an option that frequently comes up in cancer therapy discussions. This option is used in conjunction with surgery, or it can be used alone. It is often the first choice to fight against fast-growing tumor cells. It can shrink the growth enough so that surgery can eradicate the rest of the infestation. Unfortunately, this option is known for killing not just cancerous cells but also healthy cells, which is why many patients experience mouth sores, hair loss, and nausea.
You have options when it comes to how you will receive your chemotherapy. While one of the most common forms is through an IV, you could also receive this therapy as a pill. You can also have it injected either into the muscle of your arm, hip, or thigh, into the space between the layers of tissue that covers the brain and spinal cord, or into the peritoneal cavity. There are also creams with the chemotherapy medication you can rub onto your skin.
Which cancer therapy plan you decide on will be determined by the type and stage of the illness. Your doctor will be able to tell you which treatments give you the best chance. He or she may only suggest one or two options, or there may be others that he or she will explain to you.
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