American Alliance of State Pain Initiatives
This site serves the national network of State Pain Initiatives — volunteer organizations that work to disseminate accurate pain management information and raise public and patient awareness of the importance of pain management. To help accomplish that mission, the Resource Center provides resources, at nominal cost or free, such as “Cancer Pain Can Be Relieved,” “Children’s Cancer Pain Can Be Relieved,” “Eight Facts Everyone Should Know About Cancer Pain,” and “Post Operative Pain Management,” which can all be downloaded using the Adobe Acrobat Reader.
Coping with Physical and Emotional Changes
The American Cancer Society’s Web site presents specific information about managing side effects of chemotherapy and radiation therapy, such as confusion, constipation, poor appetite, and hair loss. For each side effect, there is information about what to expect, how to manage that symptom, and when to call your doctor. The site also includes worksheets to track side effects and to record cancer pain, and offers tips on nutrition, appearance changes, anxiety, fear and depression, as well as long-term physical changes such as scars, wounds, and limb amputation. You can search for common long-term physical changes by specific surgeries and/or types of cancer.
Telephone Education Workshops
CancerCare Connect sponsors free Telephone Education Workshops for people living with cancer, their families and caregivers, and healthcare professionals. These workshops are essentially conference calls led by cancer experts that can help you learn about cancer-related issues and treatment from the convenience of home. Workshops are accessible by phone throughout the United States and internationally (no phone charges apply), and the CancerCare Web site provides a month-by-month calendar of upcoming workshops. They are held several times a month from 1:30 PM to 2:30 PM, eastern time, but you must pre-register at least one week in advance. Online registration is available, or you may call CancerCare at 1-800-813-HOPE (4673). You do not need to have access to the Internet to participate in these workshops.
Treatment and Side Effects
CancerCare's Reading Room offers easy-to-understand publications about cancer, including medical, emotional, and practical concerns related to the disease. Booklets and fact sheets can be downloaded free of charge, or print copies may be ordered online. To view the online versions, you will need a PDF viewer such as Adobe Reader, which can be downloaded from the internet free of charge.
Coping with Cancer: Supportive and Palliative Care
The National Cancer Institute’s (NCI) Web site includes peer-reviewed summaries from NCI’s comprehensive cancer database (PDQ) about managing cancer-related side effects and complications, including fatigue, pain, sleep disorders, nausea, and vomiting. The information in the summaries is based on new research advances, and it is reviewed regularly by editorial boards comprised of cancer specialists. The date on each summary indicates the dates it was posted, and last updated. The summaries are available in two formats — for patients and for health professionals. (Many of the summaries are also available in Spanish.) You may want to begin with the patient version, but the health professional version is more comprehensive and suitable for those more familiar with cancer. The health professional version also refers to key citations in the medical literature that link to published medical journal abstracts.
Sexuality and Reproductive Issues
Cancer and its treatment often have an impact on patients’ sexuality, affecting both their sexual desire and, in some cases, sexual function. In some patients, sexual problems may be temporary, while in others their effects can be long-lasting. The National Cancer Institute’s (NCI) Web site provides peer-reviewed summaries of information about the sexual-related side effects of cancer treatment. Here, you will find information about some of the common sexual changes that occur during and after cancer treatment, including surgery, radiation therapy, chemotherapy, and hormone therapy. You can also learn about how sexual problems are assessed and treated in cancer patients, as well as how cancer treatment may affect fertility. These summaries are available in two formats — for patients and for health professionals — and in Spanish. You may want to begin with the patient version, but the version for health professionals is more comprehensive and suited for someone who is familiar with cancer. This version also refers to key citations in the medical literature that link to published medical journal abstracts.
Pain Control: Support for People with Cancer
Information about pain control methods, medicines for cancer pain, and non-drug treatments for cancer pain.
