Cancer Treatments
Radiation Therapy

In this treatment, they use very powerful beams and focus them on the part of your body where the tumor is. If this is successful the tumor stops growing and shrinks. This treatment is almost never used by itself. It is usually accompanied by chemotherapy or surgery.

Most people think chemotherapy is just plain ugly. This are some of the reasons why I am one of them:

• You would have to be going to get the treatment done again, and again, and again.
• You would loose your hair in the part of the body affected and sometimes the hair will not grow back at all.
• Most probably, your skin will become red and dry. It will look like you just got a really bad sunburn and you are peeling.
• It is extremely uncomfortable.
• Your skin is very likely to become tender and itchy.
• Sometimes, you cannot use creams to make the redness, dryness and itch go away. You will just have to live with it.
• Radiation also affects other healthy parts of your body, the tissues around the cancerous spot.
• If the radiation happens around your abdomen area, you will be most likely to have nausea.
• The radiation around other parts of the body can cause other disorders, like diarrhea.
• Almost all patients have fatigue as a side-effect.
• Because you will be tired all the time, you will probably not be able to play sports, dance, hike, run fast, handle all the different activities you can handle now, or just enjoy life in the same way you do now.
• This takes away valuable time from your life. You could always be doing something you like instead of traveling to the hospital and waiting to get attended.
• And most of all, your life will change. Going through such experiences will seriously change the way you look at life, and, unfortunately, the way other persons look at you. You will be talking to someone and you will wonder if they are feeling pity for you. Some people might not see who you really are and dismiss you as the one that is always going to the hospital.

Radiation therapy is a very good and often used treatment for cancer, but the best thing for you to do is not smoke and that way reduce the chances of getting cancer.

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This page was created by Jorge.

Some pages on this website are created and maintained by kids—members of Texas 4-H.

All content is reviewed by Carol Rice, R.N., Ph.D., Professor and Extension Health Specialist, Regents Fellow.

This site has been provided to you by the Texas AgriLife Extension Service, Texas 4-H, and the Texas Cancer Council.

Last updated: 9 January, 2008

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