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Fall, 2010

Palliative care is often misunderstood as a sign of surrender but this isn't true. Palliative care improves quality of life -- at any stage of a treatment plan. The goal of a palliative care plan is alleviate symptoms and side effects that interfere with a patient's ability to live their life.
Cancer treatment often comes with side effects that can be mildly annoying to extremely painful. For Judith Stingo, the problem was numbness in her thumbs and toes. When she learned that Michigan Medicine offered acupuncture, she decided to give it a try.

When a cancer diagnosis threatens, small pleasures like these can seem trivial. That is, until you can't do them anymore. Activities like these help to make the fabric of life. That's why the University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center has created a Symptom Management & Supportive Care Clinic.

The Rogel Cancer Center recently launched the Symptom Management & Supportive Care Clinic to help improve patients' quality of life by addressing the sometimes debilitating side effects of cancer care. The clinic works in concert with the patients' oncologists to develop a treatment plan to address common concerns such as chronic pain, constipation, fatigue, nausea, swelling of arms or legs, anxiety and depression.

Medicine is only as effective if it's taken correctly. That's why the University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center is launching a new Medication Management Program as part of its Symptom Management & Supportive Care Clinic.

Cancer and its treatment can wreak havoc on your diet. That's why the University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center's registered dietitians, Joan Daniels and Nancy Burke, devote most of their practice to helping patients cope with symptoms and side effects.

All Rogel Cancer Center patients should receive a flu shot containing an inactivated influenza vaccine. People with cancer should not take the nasal vaccine FluMist because it is made with a live, weakened flu virus.