The following excerpt is taken from Chapter 1 of Childhood Cancer Survivors: A Practical Guide to Your Future by Nancy Keene, Wendy Hobbie & Kathy Ruccione. To order books, call (800) 998-9938. Permission is granted to print and distribute this excerpt for noncommercial use as long as the above source is included. The information in this article is meant to educate and should not be used as an alternative for professional medical care.
According to Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary, transition is a "passage from one state, stage, place, or subject to another." This definition expresses very well the road that survivors of childhood cancer travel, from active treatment to off treatment, and then from off treatment to long-term survival. The definition also fits because "place" changes as the adolescent moves from pediatric healthcare overseen by parents to self-designed and self-monitored adult care.
Individuals do better with transitions if a period of planning occurs with the child or teen and family. The transition should be acknowledged by all healthcare providers, and psychosocial and educational aspects of survivorship should be addressed. For instance, if a teen's medical care is shifted from the pediatric clinic to the adult clinic without discussions about his understanding of his disease, he may still have only the information that was given to him when he was 9 years old. This is hardly the amount or depth of information needed by a survivor entering adulthood, who will need to advocate for his own healthcare and make wise lifestyle choices.
The following sections discuss transitioning off treatment and transitioning from teen to adult healthcare.
