Focus is always on creating a cheerful hospital ambience for young patients, say doctors
Being diagnosed with cancer is a shock that most adults fail to immediately come to terms with. So, how does one explain it to a child detected with the deadly disease?
On International Childhood Cancer Day, observed on February 15, oncologists and counsellors shared how they break the news to children and other aspects.
The news is conveyed to children only if they are aged above 12 years, based on their understanding capabilities and parents’ consent, said doctors from MNJ Institute of Oncology Regional Cancer Centre, Red Hills. Oncologists at other hospitals also said young children are generally spared the tragic news. In any case, however, doctors and counsellors explain the situation first to the parents.
An associate professor of Medical Oncology at MNJ Institute, P. Krishna Chaitanya said most tumours in children are curable and that fact is impressed upon parents.
Most parents often tend to be in denial at first, explained MNJ Institute director, N. Jayalatha. “Parents may not have thought their children can get cancer, and they cannot see their children suffer. To confirm if it is true, they usually visit two to three specialists,” she said.
In a few cases, patients have to stay at the hospital for two to three months. Families who live in faraway villages choose to stay at hospitals rather than commute every day. Dr Jayalatha said when patients feel better after a few rounds of chemotherapy, families choose to skip further treatment, which leads to regrowth of tumours.
At Basavataram Indo-American Cancer Hospital and Research Institute, counsellors focus on creating a cheerful atmosphere to keep the spirits of children high. Head of Patient Care at the institute, K. Haritha said they try to keep the children happy as much as possible and keep them engaged by arranging play activities or involving them in artistic pursuits such as pottery and even call volunteer-teachers to impart education.
“We celebrate birthdays of all the children as well as all festivals. If any child loses hair during therapy and wants to go to school, we arrange wigs for them. Before they go to schools, we explain the child’s condition to the school management concerned and precautions to be taken,” she said.
Awareness programme
A special cancer awareness and cultural programme was organised at the institute on Monday.
Dr Haritha and Dr Krishna Chaitanya said they try to address financial constraints faced during the treatment process with the help of NGOs and other voluntary organisations.
Consultant paediatric oncologist at American Oncology Institute, Parinitha Gutha said they explain the medical condition to young children without using the word cancer and give them hope that treatment would help in recovery. She said it is important since the children have to look forward to treatment and not be scared by it.
She, however, stressed that she encourages parents to inform children that they are cancer survivors as they grow up since lifelong follow-up is important and that becomes easy if the survivor knows about it. The doctor said she has come across at least one case where a young man did not know he had survived kidney cancer as a youngster.
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