Tag: Pain

Head and Neck Cancer Survivorship

“We are talking about disease where you really do have long-term survivors.” Ezra Cohen, MD If you’ve been diagnosed with head and neck cancer (HNC), you are considered a cancer survivor. You will be one for the rest of your life. If you’ve completed your treatment, you’re probably ready to move on with your life….

How To Avoid Worrying About Pain

One day a breast cancer survivor came to my office with a bump on the back of her heel. She told me that it was painful and she was worried her cancer had returned. This woman, an executive and a runner, had a smooth, soft and tender mass about the size of a walnut. Immediately…

Tomorrow’s Pain

It was the size of the needle that made the biggest impression on me. Cindy Sanderson, a clinical psychologist in her mid-40s, was delivering a lecture to the psychiatry service of the cancer hospital where I was training. She didn’t offer the usual research on this or that psychiatric issue; instead, Sanderson described coping with…