Approach to Care of Cancer Essay - 1375 Words

Approach to Care of Cancer (Essay Sample) Content: Approach to Care of CancerNameInstitutionApproach to Care of CancerOverview of CancerOver the last few years, the mortality rate from cancer has been growing steadily making this disease among the leading causes of death both in the developed and the developing world. According to estimates, more than one million people are diagnosed with cancer every single year and half of that number ends up dead. According to experts, cancer is caused by the abnormal growth of cells that multiply uncontrollably and have the capability of attacking other tissues within the body. The blood and lymph systems are so far the recognized mechanisms through which the cancer cells are transferred to different body tissues. At the present, there are over one hundred types of cancer that have been documented. This paper takes a close examination on the approach to the care of cancer, which consists of diagnosis and staging, the complications of cancer, as well as the available modalities tha t can be used to reduce the physical and psychological effects of cancer and its treatment.Diagnosis and StagingJust like any other disease, the ability to provide optimal care for patients suffering from cancer depends on the offering of well-timed and precise prognosis. Equally important to this process is the staging of cancer. The staging process is critical to the effective treatment of cancer as the mode of treatment is formulated depending on the stage and the degree of the cancer. Identifying the symptoms is the first step towards an effective diagnosis of cancer, and this is immediately followed by the presentation of these symptoms. The procedure of diagnosing cancer in most cases begins with the presentation of symptoms. The moment that cancer is suspected, doctors use a wide range of methods to detect the disease and each of them varies depending on the type of cancer. Some of the available methods for that are used by doctors to detect cancer are CT scans, x-rays, bone scans among other methods. Even if a patient is determined to be suffering from cancer, doctors always use biopsy and tissue examination as the final diagnosis method. In the recent past, there have been emerging technologies that are being used by pathologists to determine the presence of cancer with positron emission tomography (PET) and F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) being the most common (DeVita, Rosenberg, 2001).Once the doctor has ascertained the presence of cancer in a certain cell, the next most important stage before treatment can commence is staging. Staging is the simplest way of ascertaining the level of cancer and its exact placement. Staging defines the severity of a personà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬s cancer on the basis of the primary tumor, as well as on the level that the cancer has spread in the body. This is a critical stage since it makes it possible for doctors to create a prognosis, as well as to develop an ideal treatment modality for the patient. Comprehending the stage and ext ent of cancer is, therefore, one of the most important steps in the process of identifying clinical trials that are appropriate for individual patients. Although there are various methods of carrying out the staging process depending on individual patients, the main objective of the process is the same (DeVita, Rosenberg, 2001).There are four types that characterize cancer staging. The first is clinical staging, which determines the amount of cancer that there is based on the bodily examination as biopsies of the affected tissue. The other type is pathologic staging, which is only possible in individual patients who have had a tumor removed surgically to determine the level of the cancer. This stage usually involves the results from the clinical staging and the surgical process. The third type is the post-therapy or Post-Neoadjuvant Therapy Staging, which is done to determine the amount of cancer that has remained in the body after the initial treatment process. The last type is r estaging, which is used to establish the level of the recurring cancer. This last type of staging helps in determining the best modality of treating recurring cancer (Johnson, Gross, 2011).Cancer Complications and Side EffectsCancer patients are at greater risk of developing complications either due to the cancer itself or due to the available treatment options. Hyponatremia is the commonest of all the complications relating to cancer. Chemotherapy, which is the most common type of cancer treatment, is considered to be among the risk factors for this complication. This is mostly caused by the syndrome of inappropriate production of antidiuretic hormone (SIADH), which may arise as a result of the ectopic creation of arginine vasopressin (AVP) by the cancerous tissue. Although hyponatremia might be caused by other chronic diseases, research shows that more than half of all the cases are caused by cancer. All the hyponatremia cases that are linked to cancer have been found to hinder t he patientà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬s response to treatment as recovery. This mode of treatment deals with hyponatremia by openly obstructing the AVP biding with its receptors. Some of the drugs that are recommended for use in dealing with this condition include conivaptan, lixivaptan, and tolvaptan among others (Rubin, Williams, 2010).According to Bucholtz (2010), spinal cord compression (SCC) is also prevalent among cancer patients. It is estimated that more than 20,000 Americans suffering from cancer develop SCC each year. This number is estimated to be on the increase due to the enhanced treatment and the elongated survival in different cancers. This condition is mostly prevalent among patients with lung, breast, prostate, and kidney types of cancer. This complication is mostly brought about by the growth of metastatic tumor that has blocked the epidural space. The unhindered growth of the mass destroys the bony structure of the vertebrae and makes them feeble to the point where they collaps e. If not treated, this injury might lead to a permanent loss of neurologic function. Most clinicians today recommend the use of radiation therapy for the effective treatment of this complication. This therapy deals with the complication by reducing the volume of the lump and easing the SCC (Bucholtz, 2010).Another complication that often occurs in patients receiving cancer treatment is an anaphylactic reaction. Research has shown that close to 40% of cancer patients that are undergoing therapy are prone to an allergic reaction. Interestingly, the same drug that causes the allergic reaction is the same one that can treat the condition. Patients who react to their medication are stabilized by being taken off the drug before being reintroduced to the same drug. This means that patients should be taught on how to watch for the symptoms of drug reaction and report them to doctors for management. Another complication that occurs in a large number of patients with cancer and those undergo ing treatment is intense pain. This is usually treated by introducing pain killers alongside the cancer drugs (Rubin, Williams, 2010)....

Who has more power in ‘The Collector’ Clegg or Miranda - Literature Essay Samples

The Collector by John Fowles examines a battle for power and control between the introverted character of Clegg and the audaciously articulate Miranda. Power is defined as the possession of control, authority, or influence over others (Merriam-Webster Dictionary) that Clegg has been cheated of his entire life. Clegg was brought up with a poor education and little money, lacking any sort of affectionate relationships. Clegg, maybe for these reasons has a clear lack of sanity that causes a platonic addiction to the beautiful art student Miranda. Ultimately alluding to the abduction of Miranda once he wins a great sum of money, allowing Clegg to keep her captive in his basement cellar. Clegg’s insanity is the reason he keeps Miranda as a possession of beauty, much like one of the butterflies in his collection, obtaining complete physical power over her. The depiction of Miranda and Clegg’s relationship provokes the theme of power in multiple aspects of physicality, economi cally, of beauty, and verbally. Undeniably manifesting the question of who posses more power, Miranda or Clegg? The most prominent and evident aspect of power throughout the novel is physical power, in which Clegg solely posses. Before Clegg kidnapped Miranda, he never maintained power over anyone especially the people he cares about, as his mother abandoned him, and both his father and dear uncle died. Clegg’s former powerlessness seems to have induced him to desire a higher level of power that he obtains by capturing Miranda. He is able to abduct Miranda and posses her physical power due to the fact that he wins an immense sum of money, allowing him to purchase a house, thus the ability to maintain her. Clegg thereby controls every physical aspect of Miranda’s life; when she can shower, eat, go outside, how she lives her life, and even how she dies. This blatant aspect of control that Clegg hordes, entitles him to feel connected with Miranda, furthermore in possession of her. Along with his physical power, he also gains economic power over her. He believes he has a chance to wi n over her love by buying her whatever she desires ranging from expensive food delicacies to artwork and supplies. He employs his economic power over Miranda as a tool to magically make her fall in love with him, only further demonstrating the lack of sanity. Clegg feeds off of the economic and physical power he holds over Miranda, feeling entitled to a position of power that has been absent from his entire life. Moreover, he begins to feel heroic for being able to suffice Miranda with whatever she desires. Miranda begins to seem subordinate, powerless to Clegg, as she constantly has to ask him when she can have a bath, when she can go outside, and overall becomes dependent on him. The fact that Miranda must turn to Clegg for all the vital necessities of life, ensure Clegg that he has complete control over her. Perhaps, fulfilling a life long sense of thirst to have unabridged control of his environment, and the life it involves. Especially being able to capture and control beauty a s he does with his study of lepidoptery, seeing Miranda as a beautiful goddess in the form that all of society desire to posses. All though Clegg possesses unquestionable economic and physical power over Miranda, she possesses powerful beauty both verbally and physically that has an inordinate impact on Clegg. Miranda’s beauty can be interpreted by the viewer as a sense of power that she holds over Clegg as it lingers over his mindset like a controlling fog. In the sense that even when Miranda speaks to Clegg in a disgusting manner or acts exactly as he despises, he subconsciously excuses her putrid actions as he literally sees her as an enchanting personification of perfection. For example, â€Å"even when she did things considered ugly, like yawning or stretching, she made it seem pretty. The truth was she couldn’t do ugly things. She was too beautiful.† (The Collector, Page 48.) This quote may be more enlightening to the reader than what comes to mind at first as it applies to the overall relationship between Clegg and Miranda. The syntax of this salient quote describes ‘the truth ’ as her inability to do ugly things, which gives the reader insight into Clegg’s perception of Miranda. Possibly interpreted as Clegg feeling eternally inferior to her as he recognizes her immaculate beauty, but controversially that â€Å"†¦he doesn’t have what it is girls look for† (The Collector, page 11). Yet, his entirely consuming infatuation with Miranda continues to flourish. In addition, Miranda is easily able to express her emotions and thoughts through ardent language, especially her opinions on Clegg’s â€Å"killing of beautiful life†. Miranda despises Clegg’s lack of inner-depth of life. Since Miranda has a high level of education and very keenly observes Clegg, she uses her articulate verbal strength to deprecate Clegg, abating his sense of esteem and thereby inner confidence and power. His character is very weak in the sense that he easily conforms to Miranda’s beliefs and manipulation. Clegg lacks the abili ty to express his emotions or thoughts verbally, particularly without offending his beloved Miranda. It seems as if he instead tends to stay quiet, constituting Miranda’s words and beliefs as his own, even when she belittles him. Thus Clegg’s lack of confidence or verbal power to express himself antithetically conflicts with Miranda’s character that has an eloquent, educated manner of speech that empowers her to take jurisdiction in any of their interactions. In spite of the fact that Miranda has a manipulative verbal power over Clegg, she struggles immensely near the end of the book to maintain this power, which she relied upon as a latent technique of escape. Clegg’s lack of reality and sanity is continuously depicted through out the novel becoming a plausible asset to Miranda’s escape ideas. The reader understands that Clegg does not have a grip on reality as he is built upon euphemisms, claiming Miranda is ‘his guest’ instead of realistically his prisoner. He thereby abates the severity of the situation he has put Miranda in. Clegg’s oblivious perspective on the truth of his and Miranda’s relationship is a weakness on his part that entitles Miranda to a certain power. She is able to seduce him to believe he stands a chance to win her love, due to his illogical perspective. This seduction hopefully perchance leading to an action of good morality from his side of â€Å"the many† as John Fo wles would say, by liberating her. When Miranda fails to be set free by her utilization of Clegg’s irrationality to become his ideal ‘butterfly’, she approaches a vastly different method of manipulation. She mistakenly tries to sexually seduce Clegg right before she becomes dangerously ill. This act on Miranda’s behalf caused a momentous change in the battle for power within the novel. Clegg now sees her as â€Å"no better than a common street woman† as he comes to the realization that she is just like any other foolish, ordinary woman. Who fits perfectly in his narrowly perceived category of desperate women utilizing their bodies much like a whore to achieve what they want. As The Verbal Struggle for Power stated; â€Å"The way Clegg talks to her and treats her from that moment changes. †¦She can feel that she has no longer the power she had before. Now Clegg is more self-confident, he can say ‘no’ to Miranda, which he almost cou ld not do earlier.† As soon as Miranda offers herself to Clegg sexually, she loses all the power she inflicted on him before as he feels she is subordinate to him. This decisive act on Clegg’s part to show supremacy over her, allows him to accumulate exactly the key power he is missing earlier in their relationship. Triggering his harsh tone of language that shows Miranda who is the boss, fulfilling his need to feel overwhelmed by power and control, which he so desperately hunted for his entire life. All in all, the novel portrays how Miranda’s verbal power over Clegg and her beauty vanishes the minute she mentally gives up and uses what seems to her as the only way out, ‘sex’. From that moment on Clegg procures the confidence and control that he needed all along to feel empowered. Clegg always proclaimed his fascination with Miranda as love, however it appears that his consequential disgust and denigration of Miranda is not love. That he is happier now that he posses exhaustive control over Miranda, drunk from physical, economic, and verbal power. Clegg’s pathological infatuation with the power he has over Miranda results in his abuse of power, obtaining Miranda as an object of his control that invariably leads to her death.