Chronic Illness: D.B’s Life Experience
INTRODUCTION:
As defined in our textbook, “Illness has carried a commonsense meaning of a temporary disease or condition that can be either cured or controlled by treatment, whereas disability is thought of as permanent and moderated only by rehabilitation” (Mauk, 2012, p. 28). This same textbook quickly outlines that in modern medicine people are now able to live after a “devastating disease or trauma such as cancer and stroke…” (Mauk, 2012, p. 29). Herein lies the chronic illness experienced by D. B. She is a 66 year old married female that understands what it is like to survive cancer. Having been diagnosed with cancer when she was 34 years old, she has a touching and beautiful life story. Currently …show more content…
She reported that she was “cold all the time. I just couldn’t get warm.” It wasn’t until she began gaining five pounds a day while eating only a bowl of plain lettuce that she sought medical treatment. Her excessive weight gain lasted approximately a month before she went to the doctor. D. B. was unable to recount specifics detailing this early portion of her cancer treatment. She placed blame on the fact “that was over thirty years ago!” She recounts that the doctor made her take a series of radioactive pills. This process took a whole day. She compared the process of taking a series of pills as “it was sort of like the serial troponins they do when you have chest pain.” After the last dose of radioactive pills administered to her, she states “they stood me on my head (placed her in …show more content…
B. reported that at the time of her diagnosis of hypothyroidism and cancer, she did not know of any risk factors. Her grandparents had passed with old age and heart problems. Several years after the diagnosis, she received a local newspaper article from a friend that several people from her hometown of similar age had reported the same type of cancer or thyroid goiters. The article suggested an environmental risk factor linked to use of x-rays to alleviate reoccurring tonsillitis prior to surgical intervention. She did not have the article or references for it. As D. B. has aged, she has found that several family members have in fact had different types of cancer ranging from lymphoma, spinal sarcoma, and pancreatic cancer. However, there have been no reports of thyroid cancer or hypothyroidism. Remarkably, a recent study reports that women with her heritage currently living in her hometown have a 57% incidence of thyroid cancer (Peterson, Soliman, Ruterbusch, Smith, and Schwartz, 2011). This reveals not only an environmental risk factor but possibly a genetic risk
INTRODUCTION:
As defined in our textbook, “Illness has carried a commonsense meaning of a temporary disease or condition that can be either cured or controlled by treatment, whereas disability is thought of as permanent and moderated only by rehabilitation” (Mauk, 2012, p. 28). This same textbook quickly outlines that in modern medicine people are now able to live after a “devastating disease or trauma such as cancer and stroke…” (Mauk, 2012, p. 29). Herein lies the chronic illness experienced by D. B. She is a 66 year old married female that understands what it is like to survive cancer. Having been diagnosed with cancer when she was 34 years old, she has a touching and beautiful life story. Currently …show more content…
She reported that she was “cold all the time. I just couldn’t get warm.” It wasn’t until she began gaining five pounds a day while eating only a bowl of plain lettuce that she sought medical treatment. Her excessive weight gain lasted approximately a month before she went to the doctor. D. B. was unable to recount specifics detailing this early portion of her cancer treatment. She placed blame on the fact “that was over thirty years ago!” She recounts that the doctor made her take a series of radioactive pills. This process took a whole day. She compared the process of taking a series of pills as “it was sort of like the serial troponins they do when you have chest pain.” After the last dose of radioactive pills administered to her, she states “they stood me on my head (placed her in …show more content…
B. reported that at the time of her diagnosis of hypothyroidism and cancer, she did not know of any risk factors. Her grandparents had passed with old age and heart problems. Several years after the diagnosis, she received a local newspaper article from a friend that several people from her hometown of similar age had reported the same type of cancer or thyroid goiters. The article suggested an environmental risk factor linked to use of x-rays to alleviate reoccurring tonsillitis prior to surgical intervention. She did not have the article or references for it. As D. B. has aged, she has found that several family members have in fact had different types of cancer ranging from lymphoma, spinal sarcoma, and pancreatic cancer. However, there have been no reports of thyroid cancer or hypothyroidism. Remarkably, a recent study reports that women with her heritage currently living in her hometown have a 57% incidence of thyroid cancer (Peterson, Soliman, Ruterbusch, Smith, and Schwartz, 2011). This reveals not only an environmental risk factor but possibly a genetic risk