No matter who it happens to, any type of cancer is heart breaking. However, one’s heart seems to crack a little bit deeper when you hear a child has been diagnosed. Several forms of cancer can arise during childhood. The most common is called acute lymphoblastic/lymphocytic leukemia (ALL). In fact, it is so common between the ages 0-14, that people refer to it as childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (Kanwar, 2013).
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Around three thousand new cases of childhood ALL are reported yearly in the United States (Kanwar, 2013). Out of those diagnosed, white children seemed more often affected than children of other races and males were slightly more affected than females (Kanwar, 2013). The frequency of childhood ALL cases crest at ages 2 to 5 and then decreases as they grow older (Kanwar, 2013). Unfortunately, there are no identifiable causes associated with this cancer. However, according to the Mayo Clinic Staff (2012), factors that can increase the chance of getting ALL include previous cancer treatment, exposure to radiation, existing genetic disorders, and having a sibling with ALL. On the bright side of this horrible news, the overall survival rate for this type of cancer is now over 85 percent (American Cancer Society, 2013)95. According to the American Cancer Society95, “children who are free of the disease after 5 years are very likely to have been cured, because it very rare for these cancers to return after such a period of time.”
To classify ALL, physicians used to use what is called the French-American-British (FAB) classification to divided the disease into three categories called L1, L2, or L3, based on how the leukemia cells looked under a microscope(American Cancer Society, 2013)54. This method is now a thing...
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Kanwar, V.S. (2013, Sep 16). Diseases & Conditions - Medscape Reference. Pediatric Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. Retrieved January 13, 2014, from http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/990113-overview#a0156
Mayo Clinic Staff (2012, September 15). Acute lymphocytic leukemia Risk factors - Diseases and Conditions - Mayo Clinic. Retrieved January 16, 2014, from http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/acute-lymphocytic-leukemia/basics/risk-factors/con-20042915
Viele, C.S. (2003). Diagnosis, treatment, and nursing care of acute leukemia. Seminars in Oncology Nursing, 19(2), 98-108. Retrieved , from http://www.nursingconsult.com/nursing/journals/0749-2081/full-text/PDF/s0749208103000068.pdf?issn=0749-2081&full_text=pdf&pdfName=s0749208103000068.pdf&spid=13652985&article_id=487088
Working as an oncology nurse has been a life changing experience. I have grown not only as a nurse, but also as a person. My eyes have been opened to the value of life, and not just life itself, but the precious thing that is a healthy life. I cannot count the number of patients from the beginning of my nursing career until now that have told me, “Well, I just didn’t think my symptoms were a big deal” or “The doctor told me I needed additional tests but it didn’t seem important at the time and I didn’t have any money”. The lack of patient education and provider follow-up in situations such as these is disheartening to observe. Experiences I have had with patients combined with their life stories have fueled my desire to become a family nurse
Pediatric oncology has been so very rewarding in many ways, but also so very cruel in a few ways. The good days are great, but the sad days are heartbreaking. But beyond the death and the suffering, there is a whole other layer of
Progress and innovation are key components to discover new possibilities to fight against childhood cancer. To begin with, my interest in healthcare sparked when I was diagnosed with childhood sarcoma cancer at the age of seven. As a cancer
The average age of death for a child with cancer is only 8 years old. These children have a whole life ahead of them, but there is not enough funding to save them. 3 out of 4 survivors have long-term chronic illnesses. “It can be a traumatic time for all loved ones- parents, sibling, relatives, friends, and classmates.” (Silverstein 82).
Childhood cancer is a life altering experience, not only for a child, but for their entire family. It is the leading cause of death in children from the time of birth to 14 years of age, defined by the ag...
Pediatric oncology nurses are given the unique opportunity to make connections and build long-term relationship with their patients and families. Standard treatment protocol for many childhood cancers span over the course of years, with long-term surveillance and follow up visits after treatment has finished. Due to their patient’s chronic diagnoses and the acuity of their conditions, pediatric oncology nurses work in an environment of increased stress. The high stress environment puts the nurses at an increased risk for compassion fatigue; so it is the responsibility of both the nurse, and the institution to be aware of the symptoms and to effectively manage the condition should it arise. Without proper attention to the stress management of pediatric oncology nurses, compassion fatigue may be of concern and put patient care at risk.
When speaking with the public health representative from LLS, Ms. Harry inquired the biggest challenge the organization faces is screening. For blood cancer patients it is very hard for screening to be done. There is no test out there for the screening of blood itself. In medical screening, there is MRI, EKG, CT Scans, etc. These different types of screenings are measured around the muscular and skeletal systems. Medical screenings check within the body, but does not test the liquid blood in any way. If Leukemia and Lymphoma Society is able to receive blood screening, the researchers may be able to find the direct link within the genetics of the different types of blood cancers in a patient.
Cancer. A word that many people know as a reality. There are many different types of cancer that affect various amounts of people. One especially dangerous cancer is neuroblastoma. “Neuroblastoma . . . accounts for about 6% of all cancers in children . . . The average age at the time of diagnosis is about 1 to 2 years” ("What Are the Key Statistics about Neuroblastoma?"). Neuroblastoma is a devastating cancer found mostly in young children that is hard to terminate but learning the symptoms and most effective treatments can help with diagnosis and cure for an affected child.
The pediatric oncology unit has become a heavily studied area for those interested in prevention of compassion fatigue, burnout, and identification of those character traits that offer increased resilience. Nurses are expected to maintain professionalism and appropriate work-life balance but this may become a difficult task on a unit where children have a chronic, intensive, and potentially life-ending condition. Nurses become close to the patient and their family and when death occurs they too may feel a great sense of intense grief and loss. The acknowledgment of this grief and the promotion of adequate self-care habits, work-life divisions, and the ability to recognize when help may be needed are amongst the most important means in prevention of burnout and compassion fatigue. In addition to utilization of positive coping skills by the nurse a responsibility by the organization is also necessary to prevent staff burnout and turnover. The organization is responsible for acknowledgement of a loss on the unit. Presentation of prompt and anonymous counseling services to everyone on the unit following a death and regularly on high-risk units is just one of the many ways an organization can continue to decrease the loss of good nurses to compassion fatigue and
Steen, Grant R. and Joseph Mirro. Childhood Cancer: A Handbook From St.Jude Children's Research Hospital . Cambridge, MA: Perseus Publisher, 2000.
Chronic Myeloid leukemia (CML) is a blood and bone marrow disease that slowly progresses. The disease usually occurs in middle aged or older individuals and rarely occurs in children. In CML, an unusually high number of blood stem cells become granulocytes. These granulocytes, also called leukemia cells are irregular in shape and do not develop into healthy white blood cells. Eventually, they concentrate in the blood leaving no room for healthy cells which may lead to infection, anemia, or bleeding. The typical signs of CML include fatigue, fever, night sweats, and weight loss (6).
As mentioned in Understanding the Works of Nurse Theorist, “The core concept of Levine’s theory is conservation. When a person is in a state of conservation, it means that individual adaptive responses confront change productively, and with the least expenditure of effort, while preserving optimal function and identity” (Sitzman & Eichelberger, 2017, p. 69-70). The adaptive responses can occur at many different levels, but to ensure that the patient doesn’t waste to much energy or get worn down trying to adaptive to changes, four principles of conservation are used: the energy of the individual, the structural integrity of the individual, personal integrity, and social integrity of the individual (p. 71). The over all goal of the conservation is to maintain optimal health (p. 71). Because cancer patients are going through a lot during this time of their life, it is important as the nurse to remember how vulnerable they are because of the disease.
Kids are meant to be happy, play outside, go to school, and have fun. They aren’t meant to sit in hospitals, losing weight by the pound, carrying around IV poles filled with poison. It’s ridiculous and immature that we don’t have a cure for childhood cancer. The only “treatment” that we have is chemotherapy- a chemical that seems to help fight off cancer. Chemo doesn’t just fight off cancer cells though- it fights off healthy cells in your blood, mouth, digestive system, and hair follicles. The most frustrating thing about childhood cancer is that only 4% of federal funding is exclusively dedicated to childhood cancer research. It is true that more adults get diagnosed with cancer than kids, but does that mean that adults are 96% more important than children? The average age of diagnosis for an adult with cancer is age 67, and the average number of years lost is 15. 15 years are definitely many years, but not that many compared to the average number of years lost for a child- 71. Also, age 67 is a lot older than the average age of diagnoses for a child- age 6. At least the adults get to grow up and have the ability to even have cancer- some of these kids can’t even get through a fifth of their lives.
Potter, P. A., & Perry, A. G. (2009). Fundamentals of nursing (Seventh ed.). St. Louis, Mo.: Mosby Elsevier.
When one hears the word “cancer”, thoughts about how their previous life is about to change cloud the mind, but when one hears the word cancer for their child, it is a whole different outlook; the affects of childhood cancer are not only taken on by the patients, but also by their families; the affects can range from emotionally to physically, socially to financially, and even educationally. “Childhood cancer is considered rare, especially compared with adults. Still it’s the leading cause of death in children pre-adolescent, school-aged children” (Report: Childhood Cancer Rates Continue to Rise, but Treatment Helps Drive Down Deaths). Around 12,000 children in the United States are diagnosed with cancer every year and around one in five children that are diagnosed with cancer will die.