Tonight's picture was taken in March of 2009. Mattie went through many food phases while in cancer treatment. The phase would usually last a couple of weeks to a month. This particular phase revolved around chicken tenders and french fries. When Mattie said he was hungry and wanted to eat, we literally would make the world stop to answer that call. Since cancer impacted Mattie's stomach, throat, and digestion, it made him unable to eat. Seeing Mattie request food was a glorious sight, which was why I probably snapped a photo of that moment in time.
Quote of the day: Today's coronavirus update from Johns Hopkins.
- Number of people diagnosed with the virus: 28,987,905
- Number of people who died from the virus: 524,963
I came across an article entitled, What cancer survivorship can teach us about Covid-19. It caught my attention because it was comparing the long term effects of cancer with that of COVID-19. Two different diseases, but apparently one can learn from the other.
The biggest myth about cancer is that once you complete treatment, you are done, cured, and life returns to normal. Unfortunately this isn't the case. Once you are diagnosed with cancer, it will always be a part of your life. The treatment alone can cause other physical illnesses (diabetes, heart disease, vision loss, hearing loss, secondary cancers, sterility, etc), as well as mental health issues and challenges.
Like with cancer survivors, a similar phenomenon is happening with Covid-19 survivors. Long-term symptoms extend beyond obvious targets like lung function to areas such as eye and dental health. And up to 1 in 5 Covid-19 survivors are diagnosed with a psychiatric disorder within 90 days.
I literally googled, centers/clinics for post-covid care, and I can't tell you how many articles popped up, like this one (https://www.aamc.org/news-insights/post-covid-19-clinics-help-survivors-recover). Doctors know that some patients will have severe or disabling symptoms post recovery, but the problem is they don't know how to identify or predict which patients this will be!
We are conditioned as a society to believe that when we get sick, we can go to the doctor, take some medicine, and things will improve. It is hard to believe in the year 2021, that this actually isn't the case for many diseases. Now adding Covid-19 to that long list. It is important that we talk about the long term effects of diseases and that we also develop treatment strategies and plans to help patients and their families manage and cope in order to have a better quality of life.
No comments:
Post a Comment