When you’re in the middle of cancer treatment, it can feel like your oncology team has become your entire medical world. Infusion days, lab draws, follow-up scans: your calendar fills up fast, and everything else starts to feel like it can wait.
But here’s something your care team at the START Center wants you to hear: routine healthcare doesn’t stop mattering just because cancer treatment has started. In fact, in some ways it matters more.
Your oncologist is focused on fighting your cancer. Your primary care physician, your dentist, and the specialists managing your other health conditions are focused on the rest of you. When those relationships go quiet during treatment, gaps can open up: and small things that would have been easy to catch become harder to manage.
Your whole health matters to us, not just your oncology care. And keeping your broader healthcare routine in place is one of the most important things you can do to support your treatment and your recovery.
Talk to Us Before You Schedule Any Vaccine
August is the time of year when patients start seeing reminders for flu shots: and with school back in session and fall around the corner, those reminders are coming for good reason. But if you’re in active cancer treatment, please call us before you schedule any vaccine: including the flu shot.
This isn’t because vaccines are off-limits. For many patients, staying up to date on vaccines is critically important, especially because treatment can suppress your immune system and leave you more vulnerable to preventable illness. The flu, pneumonia, and COVID-19 can hit harder during treatment than they would otherwise.
The reason we ask you to check with us first is that the timing and type of vaccine matters. Some vaccines are not recommended during certain phases of treatment. Others are fine, or even encouraged, but your care team needs to know you’re getting them so we can factor that into your care.
What to do: Before calling your primary care doctor or heading to a pharmacy for any vaccine, call our team first. We’ll tell you exactly what’s appropriate for where you are in your treatment, and we can coordinate with your primary care physician so everyone is on the same page.
We will never leave you guessing on this. We’d rather have a five-minute conversation than have you miss a vaccine you needed or receive one at the wrong time.
Don’t Skip Your Dental Visits: Tell Your Dentist You’re in Treatment
Dental care is one of the first things patients put on hold during cancer treatment. It feels like a lower priority; appointments are hard to schedule around infusion days, and nobody wants to deal with one more thing.
But oral health has a direct connection to your treatment, and skipping routine dental care can create real complications.
Some chemotherapy drugs and radiation treatments to the head or neck can affect your gums, teeth, and saliva production. Mouth sores, dry mouth, and infection risk all increase during treatment. An untreated dental issue that might have been minor before treatment can become significantly more complicated: and harder to treat while your immune system is suppressed.
What to do: Keep your routine dental visits. If a cleaning or procedure is coming up, tell your dentist that you’re in active cancer treatment before they do anything. Your dentist may want to coordinate with your oncology team, especially if any procedure involves the gums or could create a risk of infection.
If you’re receiving a medication called a bisphosphonate, it’s especially important that your oncology team and dentist communicate before any invasive dental procedure, such as a tooth extraction or dental implant. These medications help protect bone health and reduce the risk of cancer-related bone complications, but they can also affect how the jaw heals after certain dental procedures. Your care team will work together to determine the safest timing and approach for any treatment you may need.
And if you develop mouth sores, unusual pain, or notice changes in your gums or teeth between visits, don’t wait for your next dental appointment, give us a call. Oral side effects are something your oncology team needs to know about, and we can help you manage them.
Stay Connected With Your Primary Care Physician
Your primary care physician has known you longer than your oncology team. They understand your health history, your baseline, and the conditions you were managing before your diagnosis. That relationship is worth protecting during treatment: not setting aside.
Primary care visits during cancer treatment serve a purpose that oncology appointments don’t fully cover. Your PCP can monitor blood pressure, manage medications unrelated to cancer, screen for depression and anxiety, and keep an eye on health concerns that exist alongside your diagnosis. They also serve as a communication bridge: making sure your broader health picture is documented and coordinated, not siloed.
What to do: Let your primary care physician know you’re in treatment with us and keep your routine visits in place. If your PCP has questions about your treatment or wants to coordinate care, we welcome that conversation. Our care team is always willing to communicate with your other providers: that collaboration is part of how we support your whole health.
If you don’t currently have a primary care physician, talk to your care coordinator at the START Center We can help connect you with one.
Managing Other Chronic Conditions During Treatment
Cancer doesn’t put your other health conditions on pause. If you were managing diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, a thyroid condition, or any other chronic illness before your diagnosis, those conditions still need attention: and treatment can sometimes make them more complicated to manage.
Certain chemotherapy drugs can affect blood sugar levels, making diabetes harder to control. Others can raise blood pressure or affect heart function. Fatigue from treatment can make it harder to exercise or maintain the routines that help keep chronic conditions stable. Medications that were well-calibrated before treatment may need to be adjusted.
This is an area where patients often fall through the cracks: not because anyone is dropping the ball, but because managing a cancer diagnosis feels all-consuming and chronic conditions get less attention as a result.
What to do: Be proactive about telling both your oncology team and your other specialists what’s changing. If you notice that your blood sugar is harder to control, your blood pressure is higher than usual, or a chronic condition feels less stable than it did before treatment, say something: to us and to the provider managing that condition.
We want to know about your full health picture. When we understand what else you’re managing, we can flag potential interactions, adjust our approach, and make sure your care team is working together rather than in parallel.
Your Team Is Your Coordinator, Not Just Your Oncologist
One of the things that sets community oncology practices apart is the relationship. Your care team knows you, not just your diagnosis, but your life, your other health concerns, and what you’re navigating outside of treatment.
That means when something comes up: a question about a vaccine, a dental procedure, a blood pressure reading that’s been creeping up: we want to be the first call you make, not the last. We can help you figure out what needs attention, who to call, and how to make sure your whole care team is communicating.
Your health doesn’t divide neatly into oncology and everything else. Neither does the care you deserve.
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