I believe that everyone who has cancer would like to recover as soon as possible and get rid of the disease. However, we often feel helpless and powerless when we exhaust everything in the field of medical research to find a solution. Cancer, as a problem that has plagued mankind for centuries, remains one of the chronic diseases that are difficult to be cured and a threat to human health in the 21st century, despite new research advances in the field of prevention and treatment. The various means, methods, drugs and health products surrounding cancer treatment and recovery are often dazzling. Some people choose Western medical treatment and reject TCM; some choose TCM treatment and are afraid of the side effects of Western medical treatment; some others are in a hurry to seek medical help and spend a lot of money, but end up with their lives and money. What causes some patients with seemingly early and mild disease to have recurrence, metastasis or even a life-threatening turn after completing surgery or adjuvant chemotherapy? What is the reason that some patients with mid- to late-stage cancer are able to survive with tumors for a long time and have a good quality of life? As an oncologist, I often think about such questions. It is true that the early detection of cancer, timely and proper treatment, tumor pathological type and its malignancy, drug resistance of cancer cells, patient’s age and other factors are closely related to the metastasis and recurrence of tumor, but what about other factors? Are there other factors that play an important role, but because we focus too much on the treatment, we neglect other important factors related to cancer patients as an individual “person”? For example, a person’s living habits, eating habits, exercise habits, psychological state, family relationships, interpersonal relationships, etc. Some people say, “Consciousness determines behavior, behavior determines habit, habit determines details, details determine success or failure, and success or failure determines fate.” This saying also applies to cancer recovery, which means that our thinking and behavior habits play an important role in cancer regression other than drug treatment. At present, it is a misconception of many cancer patients that “treatment is more important than recovery”. Why do you say so? After cancer is diagnosed, patients and families often fall into grief, anxiety and fear, and are eager to seek treatment from specialists, and once a treatment plan is determined, they immediately devote their energy and strength to treatment, running between home and major hospitals. There are often patients who think: “As long as I see a well-known expert in this field, my disease will be half better and there is hope for a cure!” After surgery or radiotherapy, family members often spare no financial resources to buy a variety of tonic and food to help patients recover from the damage caused by treatment, whether the patient loves to eat or not, a brain in front of the patient, the patient in addition to taking medicine, but also to make room in the stomach to hold all kinds of tonic, if the stomach is weak, where there is an appetite to eat; and once the metastasis or recurrence is found Once metastasis or recurrence is detected, besides seeking treatment options from hospitals again, patients are easily impressed by various health care products or “XX therapy” under the banner of “anti-cancer”, and are bent on finding the “special medicine”.
“How do patients with stable disease and entering the recovery stage think about recovery factors? A questionnaire survey conducted in our clinic showed that 45.5% of the patients did not understand the concept and meaning of tumor rehabilitation at all; among the ten rehabilitation factors, including drugs, specialists, physical exercise, diet, family relationship and support, psychology, money, friends, social support and nutritional supplements, “specialists” ranked first, and more than half of the patients ranked drugs as the most important factor. More than half of the patients ranked drug treatment as the first one among tumor recovery methods, which shows that seeking famous doctors and drugs is still the goal pursued by patients in recovery. From these phenomena, it is easy to see that “treatment” has been the most concerned topic from the onset of cancer to all stages of treatment. As a matter of fact, various standardized treatments are necessary for cancer treatment, but the end of treatment in hospital does not mean the end of treatment. Many tumor patients have been damaged after surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy, and their immune function is dysregulated. At this time, the residual and latent tumor cells in the body will easily resurface and cause recurrence and metastasis, which often become the main reason for tumor treatment failure. Therefore, even if tumor patients have successfully passed “surgery”, “chemotherapy” and “radiotherapy”, if they do not carry out effective rehabilitation treatment to consolidate the therapeutic effect, then they cannot effectively resist tumor recurrence and metastasis. If there is no effective rehabilitation treatment to consolidate the therapeutic effect, it will not be able to effectively resist the risk of tumor recurrence and metastasis. Therefore, it is necessary to carry out active and reasonable comprehensive rehabilitation treatment for tumor patients. From another perspective, tumor treatment without rehabilitation is not a complete treatment. Malignant tumors can directly infringe on the organ functions of human body, causing various symptoms such as pain, suffocation, cough, anorexia, vomiting, diarrhea and insomnia. At the same time, malignant tumors can also cause psychological trauma to patients in different degrees. Moreover, not only for patients, but also often pose pressure to the whole family, making people easily fall into pain, sadness, anxiety, depression and other emotions. Many cancer patients become eccentric, love to lose their temper, and sometimes cry and grieve over trivial things, which often overwhelms their family members; some patients may develop low self-esteem or guilt psychology, feel inferior to others, become closed and do not like to interact with others. The family members sometimes also tend to become impatient or pessimistic because of running around, exertion, aggression and bearing great pressure and responsibility, and the accumulation of bad moods will occasionally flare up because of the small things in life. These psychological states and family environment are actually very detrimental to the treatment and recovery of patients. These are only the physical and psychological traumas of cancer as a disease, but the side effects or complications of various treatments such as surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy and targeted therapy will create new tortures for cancer patients and their families: how to cope with the physical recovery after surgery? How to reduce the side effects of radiotherapy and chemotherapy? How to let patients eat and sleep well to reduce the consumption of cancer and various side effects on the body? How to improve the patient’s physical condition? How to regulate the immune function after the western medical treatment is over? How to strengthen the body’s ability to resist cancer metastasis and recurrence? How to create a comfortable and peaceful home recovery environment for patients? How can patients integrate well into society and workplace after treatment? How to reflect their value in social and family life? If both Chinese and Western medical treatments are unsatisfactory, how can patients live a better quality of life, with less pain and more happiness and satisfaction? …… If we focus on the treatment, I am afraid it is difficult to solve the above problems. Then is there any other good way for medicine to help patients and their families to come out from the gloom of cancer and let patients live better besides treating the tumor? Yes, there is cancer rehabilitation medical treatment. Cancer rehabilitation is to provide comprehensive oncology rehabilitation guidance or treatment to cancer patients for their functional abnormalities, physical disabilities and psychological disorders caused by cancer itself or side effects and complications of treatment, so as to promote maximum recovery in physical, physiological, psychological, social and occupational aspects. Cancer rehabilitation usually adopts a variety of medical or non-medical means to promote the patient’s physical function and psychological state to return to normal level as much as possible, so as to return to normal social life and work. The highest ultimate goal of cancer rehabilitation is to keep patients away from cancer, restore their health and enjoy life. The most realistic meaning of cancer rehabilitation is to help cancer families and patients face the disease, adjust their psychology, cultivate good living habits, diet and exercise habits, change the previous understanding of cancer and its treatment from the perspective of ideology and consciousness, and achieve comprehensive improvement of the human mind from the height of life. What makes cancer rehabilitation different from traditional cancer treatment is that it emphasizes the active participation and practice of patients, which leads to behavior through consciousness and improves the body and mind through behavior. In addition, it is often combined with group medical activities, not only involving a team of clinical professionals and experts, but also integrating psychologists, nutritionists, sports coaches, patients, family members, social workers, etc., to form an alliance front, and through the rich and diverse content of activities, flexible educational methods and integrated treatment of Chinese and Western medicine, it plays an important role in all stages of treatment after cancer diagnosis. It plays an irreplaceable role in each treatment stage after cancer diagnosis. Such oncology medical treatment dare not be called perfect, but at least it is perfect. As oncologists and participants in cancer rehabilitation, we have seen the changes of so many cancer patients after their recovery, and practice proves that cancer rehabilitation medical treatment is not only very much needed by cancer patients and their families, but also effective. Therefore, we especially want to send a heartfelt message to cancer patients: the first step towards recovery is to change your consciousness, and from now on, focus on treatment and more importantly, on recovery! We also sincerely appeal to our colleagues and health administration departments who are engaged in cancer medical work: Cancer rehabilitation is a systematic project, as long as we pay attention to cancer rehabilitation together and put more resources into it, we will definitely be able to hold up a blue sky for millions of cancer patients! What should we do if we have cancer? First of all, patients and family members should not panic and have a calm spirit because many cancers can be cured or can survive with tumors. The key is not to miss the best time for treatment. It is better to go to oncology hospitals or general hospitals with oncology specialties for treatment. When the disease changes, the best treatment plan can be obtained by consulting medical, surgical, radiotherapy, interventional, Chinese medicine and other departments. Regular follow-up and regular review are important after treatment. Many tumors can still be effectively treated and obtain long-term survival after early metastasis or recurrence. The most important thing is to build up confidence in overcoming cancer, maintain optimism and an open-minded attitude of “let’s take it as it comes”, which is a very important psychological anti-disease factor. You can establish good doctor-patient communication with your trusted doctor or seek help from a psychiatrist to deal with bad emotions or some potential psychological influences in time. In terms of life, one should quit smoking, drinking and staying up late to maintain good living and hygiene habits; one can carry out appropriate physical exercise under the guidance of professionals in combination with physical conditions; one can obtain scientific nutritional advice by consulting a professional nutritionist, improve physical fitness through diet or dietary therapy, and meet the body’s nutritional needs in different treatment stages; one can obtain Chinese medicine toning and nourishment by consulting a qualified TCM oncologist. The patient should seek advice from qualified TCM oncologists to obtain TCM toning and nourishment to avoid indiscriminate use of health care products that may cause physical and financial losses. Family members and friends should establish a good and loving living environment for the patients, such as family harmony and warmth, interpersonal relationship, etc., so that the patients can really feel the warmth of affection from the spiritual point of view and stimulate the desire for a better life. The best way is to consult with professional cancer rehabilitation organizations to get more comprehensive, scientific and detailed help through the cancer rehabilitation medical team.