July is Sarcoma Awareness Month. The holiday was initiated because too many people are unfamiliar with sarcoma until a family member or they themselves are diagnosed with this type of cancer. Palliative care options are an important item to consider if your family member has been diagnosed with sarcoma. Having as many options as possible is vital when dealing with a serious illness.
What Is Sarcoma?
Sarcoma is a rare form of cancer. It can occur anywhere in the body, typically in soft tissues or in bones. The tissues sarcoma targets are typically connective and supportive tissues, but this cancer can occur in blood vessels, nerves, tendons, joint linings, muscle, and even fat deposits. There are numerous forms of sarcoma, making treatment dependent on the type and location of the sarcoma.
Palliative Care Is Not a Curative Treatment
Palliative treatments are often confused with curative therapies, like radiation or chemotherapy. But that’s not entirely the case with this type of care. Palliative care is offered for sarcoma patients to help manage symptoms and improve the overall quality of life for your family member. That means that this type of care can be offered concurrently with curative therapy choices, if that’s what your family member wants to do.
Palliative Therapies Are Available at Any Stage of Illness
The types of care offered by palliative therapies are available as soon as your family member is diagnosed with sarcoma. There’s no need for her to wait until a certain point, such as near the end of her life, if she wants to take advantage of the help that palliative therapies can offer to her. This can help to make the curative treatments that she undergoes easier to manage as well.
Palliative Treatments Give Your Family Member Options
Ultimately, palliative care treatments give your family more options to help manage her sarcoma. Serious illnesses can be so frustrating to manage and when you factor in pain, both from the disease and from treatments, life can be difficult to say the least. Having as many options as possible is never a bad thing at all and it can help your family member to not give up on the treatments she’s chosen.
Your Family Member’s Medical Team Works with the Palliative Team
The palliative team working with your family member is separate from her medical team, but they coordinate with each other. Palliative providers make sure that your family member’s medical team are fully informed about what other treatments she’s receiving and how she’s doing. This helps to ensure that everyone is on the same page and that your family member is getting the care that she needs.
Exploring all of the options available after your family member is diagnosed with sarcoma is vital. It helps to ensure that all of her needs are met and that she’s able to have the best possible quality of life as she continues to battle sarcoma. Palliative care may be exactly what she needs in combination with other types of care.
If you or an aging loved-one is considering Palliative Care, please contact the caring staff at Arcy Supportive Care, our palliative care division, at 469-348-0670.
My name is Jimmie Stapleton. I am the founder and CEO of Arcy Healthcare. Arcy Healthcare includes Arcy Hospice, Arcy Supportive Care, MaximaCare Home Health and Arcy at Home.
Arcy Hospice was opened in 2007 to provide care and support for individuals and families facing a life limiting illness. It was established after my wife Ellen, who had been diagnosed with breast cancer, had completed her chemo and radiation therapies. At that time, things were looking positive, and we wanted to do something for our community that had been so supportive of our family during her treatments. Unfortunately, the cancer returned a few years later, and she subsequently passed away under our care in 2010.
In the years that followed, I began to see the need to provide the same level of excellent care to patients across the continuum of care. Therefore, we have added a home health division (MaximaCare Home Health), a palliative care division (Arcy Supportive Care), and a home care division, (Arcy at Home). With the addition of these divisions, we can meet most of the post-acute care needs for you and your family in your home.
I started Arcy Hospice with my wife as my motivation to provide exceptional care and support in the patient’s home, where they are surrounded by family and where they feel most comfortable. I’m proud to say that our staff provides some of the best in home care in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area.
Please let us know if we can enrich the quality of life for you or a loved one.
Sincerely,
Jimmie Stapleton – Founder and CEO
Arcy Healthcare
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