Many people who suffer from leukemia are able to go on and live full and healthy lives after treatment. They have found ways to integrate leukemia into their life's experiences, healthy methods of emotional expression, and the right follow-up treatment to keep their health the best it can be. Leukemia is not a death sentence, but it does have many challenges, each sometimes requiring creative problem-solving to overcome.
Physical:
Depending on the type of leukemia, signs and symptoms may affect the quality of everyday life. It's difficult to cope with everyday routines when fatigue is overwhelming, or when constant fevers and infections force the person with leukemia to stay home from school or work. Nausea from chemotherapy may affect a patient's diet and ability to maintain good nutrition, causing weight loss. It's important to ask doctors and nurses how to deal with bothersome side effects like these. Being honest about symptoms can help doctors to address them, and they can do their best to help those with leukemia feel better each day.
Emotional:
Being diagnosed with leukemia can arouse fears and worries about the future, and even after remission fears of relapse or anxieties about the need for future treatment can interfere with daily living. Some ways to deal with the emotions of leukemia can include: building a support system of family and friends, writing down thoughts and feelings in a journal, or seeking professional help from a counselor or therapist. Seeking professional counseling does not mean that a person is crazy or weak; it's a way to get an impartial perspective on feelings and events that are often overwhleming.
Financial:
The financial burdens of leukemia treatments can last long after remission. Chemotherapy is expensive and treatment often interferes with a patient's ability to work, or the parents' ability to work if the patient is a child. If the leukemia patient has insurance, that may help cover some of the costs, but often the patient is left with high copays or fees to pay out of his own pocket. If this happens, it's important to talk with the billing department of the hospital or doctor's office about the difficulty or to seek out other sources of financial assistance.
Intellectual :
A child who is diagnosed with leukemia is often unable to attend school for long periods of time due to illness or a weakened immune system, interrupting the normal course of that child's education. Also, chemotherapy can have cognitive effects on both children and adults, causing forgetfulness or difficulty learning. Children and adults need to be aware of these possible effects so they can develop strategies to overcome them and continue with education and everyday living.
Sexual :
Chemotherapy can affect sexual desire and produce side effects that can inhibit adult patients' ability to be sexual. Certain treatments for leukemia can also affect a child's ability to go through puberty or conceive and bear children. It's important to ask doctors and nurses about the sexual and reproductive side effects of treatment for leukemia and what can be done to alleviate those effects before beginning a treatment.
Source:
"Coping." 19 January 2006. Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. 2 March 2008.
