Many people are fearful about death and panic when diagnosed with a life-threatening illness such as cancer. For people who lead a healthy lifestyle, they will find it more difficult to accept the diagnosis. If we can accept death as a natural phenomenon, not only will we be able to face the cancer challenge positively, we will also find it helpful in the healing process and learn to live without fear and worry.
It is understandable that many cancer patients are trying their best to conquer cancer and rely on competent and caring doctors to provide the best management of their illness. However patients must recognize that doctors cannot play the role of God and they have their own limitations in term of medical knowledge and skills. Cancer is a difficult illness and its treatment and cure are limited by medical science.
Therefore cancer patients are encouraged to adopt the following attitudes (BRACTS) to achieve a state of harmony with doctors that is beneficial for both parties in managing cancer. Incidentally, the green outer leaves of sunflowers are called bracts.
 B |
B equates to Being Brave :
Patients should learn to face the cancer challenge bravely. By living each day to its fullest without constant fear, they will take cancer in their stride and fight it in a less stressful manner. They will be able to discuss their medical conditions openly with their doctors and identify symptoms at their early stages.
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 R   |
R equates to Being Realistic :
Patients should be realistic about their prognosis in accordance with their state of health and stage of cancer. Usually, doctors rely on past statistics to estimate a cancer patient's remaining lifespan. No doctor can give an accurate prognosis and when patients live beyond their medical expectation, they commonly refer to the extra lifespan as bonus time. No doctor, no matter how dedicated, can possibly keep up on every promising new development for every type of cancer. There are more than 100 types of cancer. Therefore, patients must recognize the limitations of doctors, and adopt a pro-active approach and research on their type of cancer. By doing their own research they might find a treatment that their doctors do not know about, that could save their lives. No doctor has achieved a 100% success rate of curing cancer nor prolonging lives of cancer patients. The hidden truth is that every patient's lifestyle, diet, attitude and cancer are unique and each patient survives cancer in his own unique way.
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 A   |
A equates to Being Appreciative :
Undoubtedly, doctors are still human beings who need a pat on the back when they have done a good job. The basic courtesy must be shown when a compassionate doctor has done his best to save a life. We seldom come across doctors showing great compassion and empathy. I would call them the Living Buddha/Living God. By chance, if one meets a "Living God"/"Living Buddha", one must show respect and appreciation for his kindness and righteous spirit in saving lives. Very often, people take things for granted and forget the wonderful things that the kind doctor has done for them when their life crisis is over. Certainly a compassionate doctor who put his heart and soul into saving one's life would not expect anything in return. On the other hand, it is only humane that one should feel grateful to one's benefactor.
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 C   |
C equates to Being Co-operative :
Patients must obey doctors' instructions if they make sense. Close co-operation with doctors is necessary in order to produce the desirable treatment results.
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 T   |
T equates to Trusting your doctors :
Patients must build rapport and feel comfortable with their doctors. Only when they are confident in their doctors' abilities, can both parties then communicate effectively. Bear in mind that no doctor can coerce his patient into receiving any form of treatment without the patient's consent. Therefore the patients are the decision makers and should be equally responsible for the outcome of the proposed treatment. If patients are doubtful about certain facts, they must seek clarification immediately. A good doctor should always give a thorough explanation and make sure that the patients and their caregivers fully understand the pros and cons of the proposed treatment or course of action.
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 S   |
S equates to Being Steadfast :
Cancer creates stress for both the patients and their family members. When everyone's ideas and suggestions for treatments are in agreement, there is less frustration. Most importantly, the patient must have faith and feel comfortable about the choice of treatment without regretting the acceptance or rejection of a particular treatment. If a mistake has been made, do not dwell on the past but move ahead with a new cancer battle plan. Learning through mistakes is sometimes inevitable so long as it is not a case of doctors' negligence.
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