What Is Mesothelioma Care Required After Treatment?

In some people, mesothelioma care and treatment can destroy or remove the cancer. When you complete the treatment you will feel stressed and, at the same time, excited. You cannot feel relief after finishing the treatment, since there is a chance for recurrence “ a condition when cancer occurs again after treatment. This is a very usual problem for individuals who have cancer.

You will take some time to overcome your fears. However, it will be helpful to accept the fact that many cancer survivors are living with this uncertainty. The mesothelioma may not be cured completely for many patients. These individuals may be treated with radiation therapy, chemotherapy or other treatments to maintain the cancer under control. Adopting to live with cancer that does not go away will be very hard and stressful.

Related: You can avail claims and compensations from various asbestos trust funds, which will support your family financially. Learn more about how to file a mesothelioma legal suit.

Care after Treatment

Even if you have completed your therapy and mesothelioma care, doctors will do close observation on you. Follow-up appointments are very crucial. When you visit your doctor, he or she will discuss regarding symptoms, and order blood tests or imaging tests. There is no widely accepted schedule for these follow-up visits, you may be asked to visit your doctor more often. Based upon the length of time in between, your visits may get extended or reduced.

Follow-up is necessary to check on various factors like cancer recurrence or spread and side effects of some therapies. You should talk to your health care team about your concerns and questions during these visits.

Roughly any cancer therapy can have side effects; while some can exist for a few weeks or months, others can be stable. Do not hesitate to talk to your health care team regarding side effects or symptoms that may be troubling you.

In case of cancer recurrence, further therapy will be based on the location of cancer, previous treatments and current health condition.

Medical history

In case you may consult a new doctor after your treatment, you may need to provide your previous medical records. Collect information regarding your mesothelioma care and treatment and compile your medical history. Here is the list of documents that you will need, and we recommend keeping more copies for yourself which will be required for medical insurance, lawsuits etc.

• Pathology reports from biopsies and surgeries
• Imaging test results like CT, MRI and X-rays, which can be stored on a DVD
• Operative reports in case of any surgeries
• Discharge summary provided by your doctor
• Radiation therapy reports
• Chemotherapy reports
• List of doctors along with their contact details who treated you

Because of the cancer recurrence risk, you have to have health insurance in order to reduce medical expenses on test and doctor visits.

You can file a mesothelioma case and claim your compensation. Read the mesothelioma FAQs and get started with filing your legal suit.

References:

American Cancer Society. After treatment for malignant mesothelioma. Retrieved January 31, 2017, from https://www.cancer.org/cancer/malignant-mesothelioma/after-treatment.html