How do elders with cancer cope?
Studying a neglected population
Joan Rose (left) talks with Alice Kornblith, PhD, about how she deals with her illness and other likfe events.
Joan Rose has been dealt more major upheavals in her "golden years" than many people experience in a lifetime: a diagnosis of breast cancer in 1988 followed by a lumpectomy, radiation, and chemotherapy; a hysterectomy for an endometrial tumor; the loss of her house to fire; her husband's death after a long battle with prostate cancer; and ongoing treatment for metastatic breast cancer that spread to her abdomen and bones.
To some, it may sound like the trials of Job. Yet the 72-year-old Mashpee, Mass., resident remains optimistic. "I'm trying to live in the present," she says. "I certainly don't want to think about the what-ifs." She plays tennis three times a week, golf twice, and duplicate bridge up to four times a week. She continues to work as a consultant for a business she founded in 1972, is an avid piano player, and leads an active social life. She even bought a new electric-blue Mazda Miata recently "just for fun."
As for the stresses of her cancer treatment, Rose says, "My answer has always been go and do what you have to do, come home, and try to forget about it until you have to go back." That's not to say she doesn't have some dark times like anyone else, she hastens to add.
"She's resilient," states Alice Kornblith, PhD, director of psycho-oncology research at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute's (DFCI) Women's Cancers Program. "She has what I call a hardy personality. She has risen above majorcrises a number of times. She's bright, she has multiple interests, she's committed to several causes, and she has excellent social support."
Dr. Kornblith, who came to DFCI in June 2001, has spent much of her career studying the psychosocial adjustment of cancer patients — examining feelings such as fear, depression, and anxiety that can accompany diagnosis or treatment of cancer, and recommending ways to alleviate patients' distress.
"For patients who are not as resilient as Ms. Rose," Dr. Kornblith says, "we can do two things. One is to understand which patients are the most vulnerable and recommend they receive more attention and specialized treatment," including mental health counseling, social services, and innovative psychosocial programs. "The other," she adds, "is to help shore up their social support by involving them in groups and other kinds of therapy."
"At one point, I was feeling very down, not just about my own illness, but also about my husband's death. It helped just to get it out."
—Joan Rose, cancer patient
Though researchers know that certain quality-of-life concerns are common to cancer patients and survivors of all ages, Dr. Kornblith has always been more intrigued by how they differ. "I'm interested in the neglected," she says. She points out that from both physical and emotional perspectives, ethnic minorities are underrepresented in the medical literature, as are those with certain kinds of cancer: for example, there are 10 to 20 breast cancer studies for every one on colon cancer. But to Dr. Kornblith, the lack of research on issues affecting the elderly is particularly egregious since 60 percent of cancer patients are age 65 or over.
- Next: Too few studies on elders
- Page: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4
