In commemoration of the World Cancer Day, the National Cancer Institute talked about the life of an oncological patient outside the institution – the challenges that arise when communicating with relatives, family, friends, and the employer. Former NVI patient Rasa Balaišė says that the news about the oncological disease shocked her at first. However, optimism helped to fight the disease: the woman equated visits to the hospital with visits to the spa, gave chemotherapy drugs the names of cocktails, and when she realized that she would have to postpone her planned doctoral studies, she named her life with the disease PhD.
Instead of doctoral studies – oncological disease and PhD
Former NVI patient Rasa Balaišė heard the diagnosis of oncological disease several years ago. The unexpected news forced the woman to turn her life around, postpone her plans, and at the same time inspired a lot of optimism for her recovery.
“When I heard the diagnosis a few years ago, it became clear that for a while my life would take a direction that I had neither planned nor anticipated nor wanted. I am a creative person, at that time I had accumulated a lot of professional knowledge in the field of design, and I thought that maybe it was time to systematize it in my doctoral studies. But when this unexpected twist happened, after this shock, I put everything together in my head. I thought, life is saying to me: “Your plan A is not working very well. Think of a plan B.” Then I realized that there will be no PhD, but there will be PhD. After all, there will be doctors. I was far away from medicine, I had never been in a hospital before. Such a renaming was a very good thing for me, in the face of the first challenge that most people face when they are diagnosed with cancer: somehow telling loved ones about it. Naming that I will be studying for a while now doctorate, reduced stress for both my loved ones and myself.”
Rasa says that she came up with more metaphors, which helped to look at the fight against the disease more cheerfully and inspired positive thinking. “Evaluated in retrospect, I see that support, hope, and optimism are most needed. After all, it often happens that loved ones, faced with stress, broadcast it back. So in this case, the deadline PhD was the first good neutralizer to replace one minus with a plus. Another challenge for me was being in the hospital – I am empathetic and I was dealing with a lot of people affected by the disease. Some of them were involved in physical and emotional suffering. Therefore, an idea arose to compensate for that gloom and grayness. I realized that I wanted a bright outfit. It’s a yellow jumper with an inscription Wonder. This work was my uniform throughout the course of chemotherapy and my stay in the hospital. Now I only wear it on special occasions. This sunny and upbeat outfit has both lifted my spirits and helped radiate optimism to others. Another, quite spontaneous renaming was on the eve before the first chemotherapy. I received a letter of support from a friend who was undergoing treatment across the Atlantic, in which she shared her experience of imagining she was going to a spa when she went to chemotherapy. Oops, great term I think. And the next morning I went to my first chemo session in the mood to go to the spa. I got a fresh green chaise longue in the room, I spent my first challenge watching the beautiful pine trees from the window, the mood was like being in a resort. Another minus that I turned into a plus was the color of the chemotherapy. One of them is red. She seemed similar to me Campari a drink. I called the chemotherapy drugs cocktails, to everyone’s amusement. Such changes happened naturally, step by step. When I arrived for treatment, I imagined that I was in a hotel, I told my husband that I was waiting to see what room I would be assigned. These titles were not just words in my head. It was also a transformation, a change that changed my mood,” R. Balaišė shares his memories.
Oncology outside the hospital: how does cancer affect relationships with other people?
The head of the Confederation of Lithuanian Employers, Danas Arlauskas, remembers the day when he thought he himself had come across an oncological disease. However, the suspicions were not confirmed – human error intervened. However, D. Arlauskas remembers that he felt great anxiety at that time, and plunged into contemplation. Therefore, he perfectly understands the challenges faced by employees with cancer and the important role of the employer in such a situation. D. Arlauskas’s company has two colleagues who were previously diagnosed with oncological disease. “Two of my employees got cancer one after the other. One was treated with radiation, the other also needed chemotherapy. We are talking about empathy. I think that it is not necessary to get into the employee’s heart too much, maybe it is better as a manager to show more compassion. First of all, my husband got sick. financier. She led accounting in three other companies. Imagine a total of four companies with complex projects. This employee has been working with me for 30 years. Therefore, we agreed simply: where I am, there she is. This is called trust. We agreed on remote work, coordinated the agenda. It lasted maybe a year and a half. Her disease is not progressing. The employee herself is very positive, she kept repeating that everything will be fine. With the second employee – a more difficult option. She is prone to depression. When we talk about the need to maintain the joy of life, the first thing I said to her was: “change your attitude towards life.” As a manager, in this case, I didn’t have to go too deep into the person’s heart. First of all, of course, the employee started asking if I had acquaintances among doctors. I said that we have excellent doctors in Lithuania, clear treatment algorithms, no acquaintances are needed. After all, Steve Jobs was a billionaire, he had many acquaintances. I told her that if she was constantly in a depressed mood, she would lose. Today she is alive and well. The challenge for the manager is not to get too inside the employee. In the case of the second patient, during chemotherapy and then rehabilitation, I paid her full salary the entire time. In business, the most important thing is a person who has great ideas, can turn them into a product and benefit others. This is the mission of the business,” says D. Arlauskas.
Availability of services in Lithuania: we still lag behind the West
According to the director of the National Cancer Institute, Assoc. Dr. According to Valdas Pečeliūnas, the diagnosis of cancer in the close environment will affect many people. However, there is also good news – as cancer diagnostics and treatment improves, and innovations are implemented, survival rates improve. “I would like to start by actualizing the problem. A study conducted in the United Kingdom showed that one in two people born after 1960 will be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime. In fact, each of us, even if we don’t get sick, we will know people who have faced cancer. This is a huge problem, with more and more new cancer cases being detected in recent years. The main reason is the increase in people’s life expectancy. The second thing is the development of diagnostic technologies. However, it is very important that the survival rate improves. Several important factors are at work here – cancer is detected at earlier and earlier stages, which leads to better treatment results. Also, health technologies are progressing much faster,” says Assoc. Dr. V. Pečeliūnas.
According to the head of the institution, Lithuania still lags behind Western European countries in terms of technological progress and availability of medicines. “Today we chose to talk about what a person faces after leaving the hospital – he spends a smaller part of his life in the hospital, all other life events take place outside of it – work, education, family, friends.” A cancer diagnosis greatly affects a person’s life. In many countries of the world, the main challenges of cancer are the problem of equality, access to health insurance, inequality due to racial differences, due to religious differences. These problems are not obvious in Lithuania. But there is another inequality: because of technology, because of the availability of services. Compared to Western countries, access to health technology is certainly less. I hope that we will move forward in solving these problems,” explains the head of NVI.
However, according to doc. Dr. According to V. Pečeliūnas, when it comes to the availability of health services in the field of oncology, considerable positive changes can be seen. “This is the development of green corridors, the new patient registration system. Also, starting this year, oncological operations required by patients will be paid for separately, and the funding ceiling will be lower. We will be able to provide these services not thinking about limitations, but thinking about how to provide services to everyone who needs them.
A stronger breakthrough is needed in improving access to genetic testing. Genetic diagnostics is now becoming one of the most important topics in medicine. There is still insufficient payment or reimbursement for genetic testing. We have a very advanced biobank program, we have a developed network of biobanks in Lithuania. Biobanks must be harnessed in order to develop personalized medicine.
This year, we expect a sharp expansion of psychologists’ services and changes in the funding procedure. Until now, psychologists were included in the treatment team, but their consultation was not paid for separately. We are already approaching the decision that the services of psychologists will be paid for and these services will be provided to everyone who needs them – oncology patients and their family members,” says doc. Dr. V. Pečeliūnas.
The head of the NVI also reminds that the first step to prevent oncological disease should be a healthy lifestyle and participation in preventive programs. “The first wish is to not smoke, the second is to move, the third is to reduce the consumption of processed food, the fourth wish is to get checked if you find any unusual formation, if your health has changed, get checked.
Plus. It is very important to participate in all four early cancer screening programs – breast, colon, prostate and cervical cancer. These programs are based on solid scientific evidence. In cases where we can detect the disease early, we can expect good treatment results. I invite all citizens to participate, check, the benefits from the programs will be significantly more than the inconveniences of participating in the programs”, sums up Assoc. Dr. Valdas Pečeliūnas.
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– 2024-04-07 20:24:04
