Dr. Veda Giri on Supporting Patients with Early Onset Cancer

Transcript

• 00:01This is a really important
• 00:02thing to think about regarding
• 00:04patients with early onset cancers,
• 00:06and the reason why we're
• 00:08developing an entire program
• 00:09addressing these patients.
• 00:11Really, there can be support
• 00:12that's needed from a psychosocial
• 00:14standpoint,
• 00:15from a physical functioning standpoint,
• 00:18and also from a mental
• 00:19health standpoint. So,
• 00:21really, we've noted, of course,
• 00:22that these individuals
• 00:24who have early onset cancers,
• 00:26and again, that can be
• 00:27defined as ages eighteen to
• 00:28forty nine,
• 00:30are really, individuals who have
• 00:32multiple responsibilities in their lives.
• 00:35Oftentimes, they are employed.
• 00:37They are parents. They're taking
• 00:39care of children. They're also
• 00:40caregivers for elderly parents or,
• 00:43other members of their family.
• 00:45All of these things really
• 00:46are, can pose,
• 00:48a significant level of, kind
• 00:51of add overwhelm to a
• 00:52person's own feeling that they
• 00:54have a cancer diagnosis
• 00:55and they have these responsibilities
• 00:57on their plates.
• 00:58There's also some unique challenges
• 01:00to talk about or, help
• 01:02patients walk through some scenarios
• 01:03that can impact them in
• 01:05terms of their quality of
• 01:06life. So for example, fertility
• 01:08issues that can be,
• 01:10you know, that need to
• 01:11be discussed with these patients
• 01:12in terms of maintaining or
• 01:14preserving fertility,
• 01:15which can be impacted by
• 01:16certain treatments or surgeries.
• 01:19Sexuality
• 01:19can be impacted as well.
• 01:21And as well as social
• 01:22functioning. So oftentimes, these individuals
• 01:24may feel very isolated from
• 01:26their peers, from their communities,
• 01:28and have an impact on
• 01:30their self esteem. And so
• 01:31all of these
• 01:32really can have an interplay
• 01:34on how the patient is
• 01:35having their experience with not
• 01:37only a cancer diagnosis, but
• 01:38in their life,
• 01:40even in terms of maintaining
• 01:41employment.
• 01:42So having breaks from their
• 01:44job to go get treatments
• 01:45or recover from surgery
• 01:47could be very stressful to
• 01:48think about. So there's the
• 01:49psychosocial needs that have to
• 01:51be addressed for these patients.
• 01:52Physically, of course,
• 01:54recovery from, say, from a
• 01:55surgery,
• 01:56is really, can be very
• 01:58challenging. And again, these are
• 01:59very busy individuals,
• 02:01so recovery from a surgery
• 02:02plus jumping back into life
• 02:04can be very challenging.
• 02:06Long term toxicity from chemotherapies
• 02:08or other treatments, radiation
• 02:10could be something that these
• 02:11patients grapple with as well,
• 02:12and so we need know
• 02:13that they need support physically.
• 02:15And these things can entail
• 02:17physical therapy, occupational therapy, etcetera,
• 02:20other ways to think about,
• 02:21you know, really getting,
• 02:23back to full functioning, from
• 02:25a physical standpoint.
• 02:27Certainly from the mental health
• 02:28standpoint,
• 02:29we know that this can
• 02:30be very challenging. These individuals
• 02:32are dealing with a new
• 02:33cancer diagnosis at a young
• 02:34age, and it can be
• 02:36very tough to cope with
• 02:37a cancer diagnosis at any
• 02:38age, let alone at a
• 02:39younger age. But also there
• 02:41can be underlying
• 02:42depression and anxiety that could
• 02:44be exacerbated
• 02:45by a cancer diagnosis in
• 02:47addition to all of the
• 02:48responsibilities. So we have to
• 02:50keep an eye on mental
• 02:50health as well for these
• 02:52patients. So we really wanna
• 02:53think about supporting patients from
• 02:55a holistic standpoint as they're
• 02:57going through their cancer care.