Lung Cancer
Healthy Living
More people are living longer with lung cancer, which is something to be thankful for. However, living with lung cancer can bring special challenges that you and your family will have to manage on a daily basis. Learning about the challenges that may accompany your type of lung cancer will help you plan for them. In addition, maintaining healthy habits may help you tolerate treatment better, lower the risk of a recurrence and protect against another illness or second cancer. Keeping follow-up appointments is also critical to long-term health. These visits will help you discuss side effects and other concerns with your health care team and possibly prevent a recurrence.
Although you may feel that all of your time is taken up with numerous doctor’s appointments, treatments, scans and bloodwork and insurance, you can still control many things. It is vital to adopt healthy practices to enhance your quality of life. For the most part, you are in charge of how you approach nutrition, exercise, stress, sleep, sex and overall well-being, regardless of where you are on the cancer care continuum.
Diet and Physical Activity
Eating a nutritious diet, maintaining a healthy weight, limiting alcohol, exercising and avoiding tobacco products are all positive choices. Experts recommend a diet high in vegetables and fruits, whole grains and lean protein. Weight can fluctuate during treatment. A dietitian can help tailor an eating plan for you.
Many people think they cannot or should not exercise when they have lung cancer. That is not true. Any level of physical activity – even walking for 10 minutes a day – is effective for managing fatigue, maintaining a healthy weight, boosting muscle strength and endurance, and improving self-esteem and your mental health. Staying physically active also helps you maintain your lung capacity and keeps the muscles around your diaphragm from weakening, which may make it more challenging to breathe. The main goal is to avoid inactivity by doing something every day. Walk to get the mail or try low-impact stretching.
Follow-up Appointments
Whether you are still in treatment, have finished or are on maintenance therapy, it is critical to go to your follow-up appointments. These visits allow your health care provider to monitor the status of your health, determine how well treatment is going and help you address any side effects or concerns you may have. Your health care provider will likely provide you with a follow-up care plan that outlines upcoming tests, treatment and checkups. It will include information about your risk for a recurrence or a second cancer and recommended cancer screening guidelines.
Sleep Hygiene
The side effects of treatment and the emotional stress of having a cancer diagnosis can impact the quality of your sleep. Limit daytime naps to 30 minutes or less, try to get seven to nine hours of sleep, go to bed and wake up at the same time each day, and develop a routine to help you prepare for sleeping.
Let your health care provider know if you are not getting good sleep. Fighting cancer will be challenging for your body. You will need the best rest to help you recover.
Sexual Health
Cancer and its treatment can affect how you feel about yourself sexually. Talk with your health care provider early to find out what to expect in terms of sexuality issues, from potential side effects to your ability to have an active sex life. Talking with your partner, a therapist or a trusted friend may help you work through any challenges.
The Lung Cancer Registry
The Lung Cancer Registry is a database of insights and experiences provided by patients and loved ones of people who have faced lung cancer. This first-hand knowledge helps improve the future of lung cancer treatment, and it is easy to participate. No medical visits, biopsies or specimens are required. Simply answer the provided questions from a home computer or mobile device. Join for free at www.lungcancerregistry.org.
The Importance of Cancer Screening
Loved ones of a person with lung cancer who smoke are encouraged to quit and consider getting screened. Screening has advanced in recent years and offers an easy way to detect lung cancer early. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommends routine screening for adults ages 50 to 80 years who have a 20 pack-year smoking history and currently smoke or have quit within the past 15 years. A pack-year is the equivalent of smoking an average of 20 cigarettes (the typical number in a pack) a day for a year.
The recommendation is for screening using low-dose computed tomography (CT) every year. Screening may be stopped once the person has not smoked for 15 years or has a health problem that limits life expectancy or the ability to have lung surgery.
It is never too late to stop. Quitting nicotine will have immediate and long-term benefits. For people undergoing cancer treatment, the most important benefit is the positive impact quitting will have on treatment.
