Chemotherapy In Adolescents

‘“Cancer is like a home invasion, once it has invaded your life you will never feel safe again”’ (Adal yn's... 6). Cancer wipes out what a family knew before cancer; it wipes out their version of normal and replaces it with something that can not be controlled. When childhood cancer takes a hold of the family and never lets go. While going through cancer, it is important that a family sticks together and builds each other up through this difficult time. Childhood cancer affects everyone it comes in contact with, but it mainly affects the family, including the child suffering from cancer, as well as the parents or caregiver and siblings.

Children have multiple or prolonged exposure to trauma, experience various symptoms and reactions, and long for progressive techniques to heal their pain.

In today’s medical field we often see a controversy over the use of medical marijuana, but the parents of eight year old Mykayla Comstock fully support the medical use of it. In the documentary called “Stoned Kids” we learned about Mykayla, a girl who had been diagnosed with leukemia. After going through numerous chemotherapy treatments, her parents were informed by Mykayla’s doctor that the chemotherapy was not working and a full body radiation would be the next step to take in the procedure. Mykayla’s parents didn’t want to put their child through radiation because there was another option, medical marijuana.

The causes of cancer are nothing compared to the effects it has on the person’s body and the person’s family. The effects of cancer are very different for everyone, they change the person socially, physically and emotionally. Cancer has many effects on the human body, they include: physical body changes, nausea and vomiting and the most serious effect is death. Cancer can also effect the people around them in many ways, most families have to change their lifestyles to perform the needs of the cancer patient, when a death happens to occur that really affects the family, and lastly a family’s emotional state changes as well. Cancer has many effects on the patient and their families.

Would a person say the number forty-three, out of all the numbers in existence, is small? That person would probably say yes, but what if someone said forty-three children a day are diagnosed with cancer (Duncan, Geoff). With the widespread of cancer, one should try to envision themselves as a pediatric oncologist because of the comfortable environment of the work, the great gain of knowledge and salary, and benefits of healing people.

survivability rate as high as 80% for children.” (Hopper, P3). After her prognosis she started her

The under-served population in this article are children experiencing or had experienced cancer and an extension of them, their families. The highest cause of death in children is cancer, which could be acute lymphoblastic leukemia, brains tumors, etc. I result of this, the child and families can experience traumatic. Going through a painful process of treatment, drawing bone marrow, or undergoing anxiety and fear after treatment all contributes to the distress.

In regards to therapy, the article discussed how it is effective in treating cancer patients temporarily but may cause other related issues later on. These future issues are called SPM’s or second primary malignancies. They are more likely to show up in people who were treated for pediatric cancer because of the large number of years following treatment and the relatively high radiation sensitivity due to body development (Neglia et al., 2001.) It is also important to address that many childhood cancers are caused by genetic issues. The utilization of radiation therapy could potentially further destroy the already ineffective genes and lead to another related cancer (Baker et al.,

Cancer, one of the most feared words in our vocabulary of this time, especially in childhood (Druker 1). Most people when thinking of “childhood cancer” envision very young children, although a “Nation Institute of Health Policy concerning inclusion of children in clinical research defines children as being younger than twenty-one years of age while the Food and Drug Administration considers children to be fifteen years and younger” (Ries 158). That being said, most cancers incidence peak among children occurs during the first year of life (Gurney 149). Some of the most well-known nationwide childhood cancers are leukemia, brain cancer, and other central nervous system cancers (oeconline 1). In conjunction, “the side effects of treatment,

18. The children were bald because they were going through chemotherapy. The chemicals in the chemo are made to target quickly dividing cells. Along with the cancer cells, the hair follicle cells are the quickest dividing cells in our body. Therefore the chemotherapy attacks the dividing hair cells as well; hence the children loosing their hair.

Cohen, L.L., Lemanek, K., Blount, R.L., Dahlquist, L.M., Lim, C.S, Palermo, T.M., …Weiss, K.E. (2008). Evidence -based assessment of pediatric pain. Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 33 (9), 939-955. doi:10.1093/jpepsy/jsm103

Chemotherapy is a cancer drug which is used to treat brain cancer. Radiation therapy is high energy rays that kill and shrink cancer cells. Some steroids are used to treat and prevent swelling of the brain. You will some what lose motor skills and muscle strength. Continuous follow up care to help care for the disease is highly recommended. According to some in depth research , long term survival varies depending on the different types of cancer your child has.

Dealing with cancer can be one of the most difficult situations in someone’s life; whether it’d be yourself or a loved one. It becomes even more sensitive when it is a child that is diagnosed with cancer. Rationalities are tainted and desperate times call for desperate measures. Many parents go above and beyond for their sick child and want to do everything possible to save them, unfortunately in these cases it can be by any means necessary. The issue of treatment for minors being mandatory is one that has stirred up controversies over many years. But some patients, with the support of their parents, just want quality of life. They want to live their last days on their own terms. In that case, it should be okay for the parents to refuse chemo for their child. It shouldn’t be mandatory for the patient to get treated.

However, studies have shown that the majority of young adults and college students know very little about cancer and a very unlikely to perform self-examinations. While cancer is declining as a whole, cancer incidence among young adults is slowly rising. Three of the cancers young adults may be at risk for include lymphomas, testicular and breast cancers. General risk factors for cancer include a family history of cancer, as well as abnormalities in childhood development of primary and secondary sex organs. Prevention of these cancers is mainly linked to a healthy diet and lifestyle, with little to no use of alcohol and tobacco. Being aware of one’s family history with cancer is also important in determining what cancers one might be at risk for. Exercise and maintaining a healthy weight are also important as obesity in linked to most cancers. Besides knowing about what cancers college students are at risk for, it is also important to know where to go if one should get cancer. Cancer resources for the Walla Walla area can be found at the local St. Mary’s Cancer Center where they can provide screenings, tests, and treatments. Support groups and some financial resources can be found through websites such as Stupid Cancer, which raise awareness about young adult cancers. Financial aid is available for college students who have or have had cancer in the form of various scholarships. Resources are out there but are not being introduced to college students as they should

This paper will address evidence based practice and apply it to a PICO question. The focus of the paper will be on information about cancer occurring in teenagers who are experiencing pain.