Copyright © 2014 Barrie R. Cassileth
All rights reserved under International and
Pan American Copyright Conventions.
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic or mechanical including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
This edition is published by Spry Publishing LLC
2500 South State Street
Ann Arbor, MI 48104 USA
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Library of Congress Control Number: 2013949027
E-book ISBN: 978-1-938170-36-2
Disclaimer: Spry Publishing LLC does not assume responsibility for the contents or opinions expressed herein. Although every precaution is taken to ensure that information is accurate as of the date of publication, differences of opinion exist. The opinions expressed herein are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher. The information contained in this book is not intended to replace professional advisement of an individual’s doctor prior to beginning or changing an individual’s course of treatment.
To my husband and children
for their forebearance, support, and creative ideas, with all my love and appreciation.
To our patients
for their remarkable bravery and our integrative therapists and physicians for their devotion and expertise.
To patients and cancer therapists everywhere
for their ability to give and live to the fullest under the most difficult of circumstances.
A special thanks
to Ian Yarett. We were fortunate to have him with us at MSKCC for a year before he started medical school, and he worked tirelessly to put together the first draft of this book.
Contents
Part One: Information to Start
What Integrative Medicine Is … and Isn’t
Part Two: Complementary Therapies—The Basics
What Complementary Therapies Can Do for You
Physical Activity
Acupuncture
Mind-Body Therapies
Massage
Creative Therapies
Part Three: Symptom Relief with Complementary Therapies
Managing Pain
Fatigue
Anxiety, Stress, and Depression
Nausea and Vomiting
Hot Flashes
Sexual Dysfunction
Xerostomia
Insomnia and Sleep Disturbance
Lymphedema
Neuropathy
Appendices
Scam Alert
Your Healthcare Team
Resources
Glossary
Index
Many years ago, I completed a doctorate in medical sociology at the University of Pennsylvania. For my thesis project, I chose to spend a year studying the dynamics of care on the adult leukemia unit of the Penn’s Cancer Center, a small cluster of beds adjacent to the Center’s research laboratories. What I found that year not only became my thesis, it molded my lifelong profession.
I found a world filled with terribly ill adults, mostly young or in their middle years, and I encountered their husbands, wives, parents, and children, all of whom suffered just as much, knowing that the prolonged and difficult treatments had a small chance of success. Physicians, nurses, and other staff faced similar challenges as they guided their patients through treatment, aware of its limitations and of the gaps in scientific knowledge underlying it.
It became clear to me that more was needed than simply caring for each patient’s leukemia, as difficult and consuming as that was. A host of physical, emotional, and interpersonal problems screamed for attention. Identifying them and outlining ways to approach them became my thesis and later a book, The Cancer Patient: Social and Medical Aspects of Care.
After that year, I was asked to stay on to establish a program that could address these issues. We called it the “Psychosocial Program.” Under that rubric we created support services for patients, families, and staff, established the first palliative care and home hospice programs based in an academic medical center, and conducted multiple research studies.
In 1999, I was invited to bring all that I had learned and developed over the previous decades to Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, the world’s preeminent cancer hospital, and to create a new kind of department, an Integrative Medicine department. This was an opportunity not only to bring the field to a new plateau, but to produce a program that could be a prototype for other hospitals around the world, and that is exactly what happened. The various elements of our program focus on patients’ needs throughout the full spectrum of their treatment and well beyond. Helping survivors and their loved ones to live strong and stay well is the major goal of what we do. Survivorship from diagnosis on presents new challenges, and survivorship is what this book is about.
— Barrie Cassileth
Despite the statistics, we tend to believe that cancer happens to other people—those who are older or sicker or have less healthy habits—but not to us. Invariably, it’s not something for which we are prepared. A diagnosis of cancer changes everything. It makes us unsure when once we were certain, and the unfairness and scariness of it all hit us and our loved ones hard.
Questions,