Author: ICanCaRe

Innovative Cancer Care and Rehabilitation Pvt. Ltd. (ICanCaRe) is a health tech start-up working in providing innovative solutions in the field of cancer prevention, care & rehabilitation, striving to make life comfortable and easy beyond cancer for all winners and survivors. ICanCaRe is recognized as Start-up by DPIIT, Government of India, incubated at Gujarat University Start-up and Entrepreneurship Council (GUSEC), and is a lifetime member of Millennial India International Chamber of Commerce Industry & Agriculture (MIICCIA). ICanCaRe in its mission "SAVE the Youth" runs two popular campaigns #knowtobacco and #chotadaana. ICanCaRe is in the business of tobacco Cessation (QUIT TOBACCO) as a means of tobacco control through a clinically validated protocol intervention model, and capacity building for the same by Gujarat University accredited certified specialist courses.

Cancer Winners’ are not Immortals….

ICanCare

Palliative care is an essential part of cancer control

Palliative care is the active total care of the patient’s body, mind and spirit, and also involves giving support to the family. It begins when illness is diagnosed, and continues regardless of whether or not a patient receives treatment directed at the disease. Health providers must evaluate and alleviate a patient’s physical, psychological, and social distress.

Effective palliative care requires a broad multidisciplinary approach that includes the family and makes use of available community resources; it can be successfully implemented even if resources are limited. It can be provided in tertiary care facilities, in community health centers and even at a local center.

Improving the quality of life of patients and families.

Palliative care improves the quality of life of patients and families who face life-threatening illness, by providing pain and symptom relief, spiritual and psycho-social support to from diagnosis to the end of life and bereavement. Palliative care:

Cancer – 15 Warning Signs

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1. Losing weight at a rapid rate (among people not being on a diet), gasses, discomfort, digestive disorders, anorexia, recurring diarrhea, constipation – are the symptoms occurring most frequently in case of lung, stomach, kidney and large intestine cancer. If accompanied by a feeling of weakness, it can be a sign of blood loss or lack of proper elements building it.

2. Pain of unknown cause – long-lasting abdomen-ache can be the symptom of large intestine cancer, lumbalgia can be the sign of kidney cancer, pain in the chest can result from lung cancer. Bone aches can be caused by metastasis. Referred pain to the ear can be a sign of throat cancer (base of tongue, tonsils, hypo-pharynx)

3. Haemoptysis, long-lasting hoarseness (over 3 weeks), persistent cough or change of its character – can be caused by lung or larynx cancer.

4. Change in colour of moles and warts, ulceration and itching, ulceration of open wounds, burns and scalds can be the signs of skin cancer.

5. Excessive production of urine, backlog of urine, painful urinating, slow, time-consuming flow of urine, lumbago as well as backache can be the signs of prostate cancer.

6. Pain, vertigo, nausea, sight distortions (over sensitized sight, astigmatism), hearing impediment, upset balance and mental disorders can result from brain cancer.

7. Swallowing difficulties – can be a symptom of throat, larynx, oesophagus and stomach cancer.

8. Feeling of fullness in epigastrium, aches and digestive disorders – may be due to stomach cancer and other kinds of alimentary canal cancer, sometimes ovary cancer.

9. Blood in faeces, black faeces, alternating diarrhea and constipation, mucus in faeces, narrow (pencil-like) faeces – are the symptoms of alimentary canal cancer, especially of large intestine and rectum.

10. Blood in urine (without the symptoms of urinary tracts inflammation), dysuria (compulsive urination, difficulties in urination) – can accompany the urinary tracts cancer.

11. Improper bleeding from the genital tracts, pink or dark-red vaginal discharges, hypogastrium and lower limbs ache can be the signs of vagina, uterine cervix and uterus cancer.

12. Marks on skin and mucous membrane (lips, oral cavity, genitals): not healing ulceration, change in mark’s appearance, occurrence of new skin marks of some specific features (irregular distribution of pigment, vague line between the mark and healthy skin, quick growth of the marks, bleeding, dripping).

13. Breast tumour (by approximately 15% – 25% can be impalpable), ulceration, the retraction of nipple, asymmetrical nipples, change of size or the shape of a nipple, its swelling and the marks around it, enlargement of lymphatic glands in the armpit, extension of veins in the breast skin, ulceration of breast skin, shoulder swelling, flat efflorescene in case of the so called advanced inflammation nipple cancer – are often the symptoms of breast cancer.

14. Fever, tiredness, bones and joints ache, inclination to temporary anaemia and bleeding, impalpable tumour of abdominal cavity, as a result of spleen enlargement, that can be detected in gastro-bowel test.

15. Pain and pressure in the upper right part of abdomen, tiredness, anorexia and at a further stage of rhe disease a palpable tumour in the upper right part of abdomen, inclination to jaundice and bleeding can be the signs of liver cancer.

Article Source: http://www.articlerich.com

Oncologist as a Cancer Winner

ICANCARE

Doctor – An oncologist has a great role to play to make a cancer patient, a cancer survivor, a winner.

Hand holding, through the darkest hours of a cancer patient life, during the period of transformation and thereafter, and how the doctor does it will determine whether a patient be just a survivor or a winner.

A cancer patient lives in fear, an unknown fear of life, a life which no one else can experience.

Early detection, prompt treatment and quick rehabilitation are the mantra for cancer patient to become a cancer winner. An oncologist has to understand that rehabilitation is as much important as treatment, and he has a great role to play in this.

The following are the important elements of a Good oncologist

  • Knowledge
  • Empathy
  • Spiritualism

Oncologist has the power to change course of life of a cancer patient.

The truth is that they have an enormous ability to help their patients and create a positive impact in their life, which is why they command so much respect. The problem is that today’s oncologists think of themselves primarily as being intellectual scientists, whose job is to order the right tests, make the right diagnosis, and provide the right treatment. Believe their work ends here!

This in reality is a very small part of what an oncologist do to help patients become a winner – Oncologists’ important tasks are far more intangible, and one need to use the heart much more than the heads to do them well ! He is the bedrock of support whom the patient can fall back on when she is going through a rough patch in her life – someone she can trust and depend on during her darkest hours.

The way we talk, the way we smile, the way we hold our patient’s hands, and the way we connect with her has a far greater impact on the patient’s life than just providing the right diagnosis or the right treatment. This is something which one should not underestimate.

During times of crisis – and every illness can be filled with stress and loneliness and angst, a patient needs to know that there is someone she can depend on – someone who know her, cares for her, and will hold her hand during her darkest moments – someone who will provide her a shoulder to cry on, and a human connection.

This is the kind of support which a doctor is privileged to be able to provide, and we need to understand the significance of this role which we can play in our patient’s lives, which far outweighs anything we can do as regards diagnosis and treatment. We are far more than technicians , and while we cannot always cure our patients, we can always provide support and succor!

We are blessed to be in this privileged position, where we are privy to another human’s innermost fears and desires – let’s learn to wield this power with care and compassion

BE CAREFUL AND NOT FEARFUL.

The ONCOLOGIST by his body language lets the patient know that – I CAN CARE. Together we can.

There is a positive life beyond cancer.

Dr. Pawan Gupta M.Ch. – Cancer Surgeon, Social Activist and Author