Interviewer: You've just been told that your child has been diagnosed with cancer. Now what? We'll talk about that next with Dr. Jennifer Wright on The Scope.
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Dr. Jennifer Wright is a pediatric oncologist at Huntsman Cancer Institute. What a terrible message to have to deliver to parents, that their child has been diagnosed with cancer. I'm sure the very first question that they're wondering is now what? So now what?
Dr. Wright: Right. There's an overwhelming amount of information to give parents when they hear what we call the C-word, cancer, which is most parents' worst nightmare.
Some of those things are medical, but a lot of those things really are about how they can get through this situation outside of the moments they spent in the hospital and getting treatment.
One of the things that's really important is that parents really need to feel like they can advocate for their child, both in terms of making sure they understand the medical plan. They really need to feel like they can interrupt the physician and ask questions if they don't understand, if we as docs are talking at too high of a medical lingo level.
Interviewer: Which never happens.
Dr. Wright: No, no, no. It's very rare, but . . .
Interviewer: It's totally okay to say, "Wait a second. Stop."
Dr. Wright: Right, "Please use English."
Interviewer: Yeah, sure.
Dr. Wright: And so from a medical standpoint clearly understanding what happening to the extent that we can explain it. You know, we don't know all the answers medically why this happens. Because it's so overwhelming, what I try and do at a visit is at the end of the day, make sure the family knows what is the very next step. When will they be back, what's the next test, because sometimes that's the best they can do at this point is, "Okay, just tell me where to be next," because their head is swimming.
Interviewer: Yeah, and I've heard, too, just even understanding the illness better a lot of times give parents a sense of comfort. Like once you kind of get a grasp of the problem, it's not quite as overwhelming even though it's still quite a terrible thing.
Dr. Wright: It's not a comfortable position for most parents to be into, be thrown into a medical situation and then be talking to people, again, in this language they've never heard, and so it's uncomfortable a lot of times but they really need to just force themselves to, like I said, be an advocate and get the answers that they feel they need.
Interviewer: And really understand things. And not only with just the doctor, but you're going to get a lot of advice from other people as well.
Dr. Wright: You're going to get a lot of advice from people that are your dear friends, people that you barely know that think they're your dear friends, church friends, family members, the check-out guy at the grocery store. Everyone is going to tell you what they think because their Aunt Betty had cancer and this is their experience. So my advice is when that's overwhelming politely thank people and move on.
Interviewer: Yeah.
Dr. Wright: You have permission to ignore them. When an idea sounds interesting, seek out more information on that suggestion.
Interviewer: So if you hear good advice or you hear something that intrigues you, then go back to your cancer expert.
Dr. Wright: That's right. Again . . .
Interviewer: And discuss it with them.
Dr. Wright: Advocate for your child. Say, "Hey, have you thought about this?" Most of the time they have and they have a reason they haven't recommended that specific therapy or supportive care. But you may plant an idea in their head that they haven't thought of, and it could be something that is helpful for your child.
Interviewer: And what about getting through this emotionally? What type of advice do you give to parents getting it through emotionally? We've kind of talked about being an advocate, understanding what's going on, but is there some additional thing that you find helpful?
Dr. Wright: Every family handles this situation differently. Everyone has a different support system already in place, and everybody finds new support systems that may fall into place helpful to different extremes. So there are support groups for parents, there are support groups for siblings, some families need extra support, like counseling. There's a huge variety of possibilities not only advocating for your child that has cancer but advocate for your whole family. Step aside, take a look, "How are we getting through this? Are we about to crumble and fall apart? What kind of help do we need?" And no one will fault you for whatever support or breaks or whatever you might need. This is a very difficult time to get through and there are supports out there. Sometimes you just need to ask.
Interviewer: Well, it's also when you go to a place like Huntsman Cancer Institute you have a lot of additional resources for those families. It's not just a doctor and a family and a child with cancer.
Dr. Wright: Right.
Interviewer: So utilize that stuff as well. They could probably help you determine what you need for your own family.
Dr. Wright: Cancer is definitely a team sport. Most patients end up with a surgeon, a pediatric oncologist navigating chemotherapy, sometimes radiation, nutritional support, physical therapists, occupational therapists, social workers, financial counselors. We have pretty much every . . . acupuncture, acupressure, we have all those available to patients to help get through. Again, it's not just the medical treatment plan. There's a lot of support that goes into getting through this.
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