The Importance of Nutrition During Treatment
A healthy diet is always good for a healthy body and mind. But for cancer patients, both the illness and its treatments can change the way you eat and affect how your body tolerates certain foods and uses nutrients.
Certain high-protein, high-calorie foods might help you build the strength and the weight to withstand the effects of cancer and its treatments. Foods like ice cream, milk shakes and other thick, cool foods, can be easier on your mouth and throat if you’re dealing with soreness. And other foods high in dense nutrients and vitamins will help your body heal and recover faster.
Your cancer care team will help guide you through this process of understanding what to eat and what to avoid before and during treatment. A registered dietitian will likely also be part of your cancer care team, helping to develop an individualized nutrition strategy. We strongly encourage family members to participate in the patient’s nutrition counseling.
How Research and Clinical Trials Can Help Your Outcome
A clinical trial is a research study involving a select group of people who have volunteered to try an intervention — such as a drug or other therapy, a new screening test, a behavior change or procedure — under close medical monitoring. Clinical trials look to answer questions about the safety and/or effectiveness of the intervention. No matter how promising a new drug, vaccine or procedure looks when tested in the laboratory, it cannot be approved for general use in humans until it has been carefully assessed through several phases of clinical study that includes such volunteer participants.
Is a Clinical Trial Right for You?
From one perspective, patients are contributing to vital cancer research that can put them among the first to benefit and positively affect outcomes for other cancer patients.
From another perspective, those patients are often receiving the most advanced and innovative treatments not available outside of clinical trials and under the attentive care of additional medical professionals who complement their regular cancer care team.
All cancer patients are evaluated before participation in a clinical trial.If you are interested in participating in one of the clinical trials offered, or if you have questions about clinical research, please speak to your doctor or reach out to a member of our research team at (225) 765-7659.
Looking Ahead to Recovery and Survivorship
Our cancer care is more than just cancer care. We treat our patients as the people they are, supporting their physical, mental and spiritual health long after the last treatment. Surviving cancer brings its own challenges that impact every aspect of life in its “new normal,” and we help our patients make life after cancer the best it can be.
Once cancer treatment is complete, there are a variety of resources available to you for the next phase of your journey – being a survivor! That may include survivor support events or a one-on-one visit with an oncology navigator or counselor to discuss ways we can support your needs through general health, maintaining a healthy lifestyle, mental health, managing anxiety and concerns about cancer recurring. This extension of care provides reassurance during the transition from patient to survivor.
In Acadiana and Greater Jackson regions, patients gain access to Camp Bluebird, a retreat for cancer patients and survivors 18 and older. Through recreational activities, creative outlets and bonding with others, you can gain a better understanding of your non-medical needs and learn coping strategies from others that have made lifestyle adjustments through living with cancer.
These are just some of the ways our cancer care teams show their commitment to helping you live your best life through treatment and after. Speak with your care team about the resources available in your region.
