The lived experience of life-prolonging treatment of recurring ovarian cancer

• There has been an improvement in the effectiveness of chemotherapy agents to restrain recurring ovarian cancer, such that women live with the disease for longer than they used to. However, there is a knowledge gap concerning how patients define their world from a lifeworld perspective, when living with life-prolonging treatment. The aim of the study was to illuminate the phenomenon of living with life-prolonging treatment of recurring ovarian cancer. Four women were interviewed twice, once in 2003, three years after the first recurrence, and again in 2005. The method was based on Giorgi’s phenomenological method. A situated structure for each woman was followed by a transformation into a general structure for all women, which communicates the most invariant meaning of the phenomenon.The general structure showed the growing threat to the women’s existence and their perception that time was short, yet extendable. Awareness of life’s limitedness evoked gratitude for the possibility to postpone death. The body’s strength was increasingly fragile and jeopardized the restraining of the disease. The amount of strength available was unpredictable, which meant a break in the rhythm of everyday life. Strength had to be captured and cared for.The wish to share the meaning of the disease with others was expressed as unattainable. The women were unable to realize the desire to be seen as an example of someone living with ongoing treatments. In encounters with other people, the cancer-afflicted body stood out as a barrier to communication. Inability to share their experience was also manifested in the women’s encounters with caregivers, which were characterized by an objective attitude. The women met with a gradual compliance their caregivers’ inability to respond to them.

Subject headings

MEDICIN OCH HÄLSOVETENSKAP  -- Hälsovetenskap -- Omvårdnad (hsv//swe)

MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES  -- Health Sciences -- Nursing (hsv//eng)

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Annan samhällsvetenskap -- Tvärvetenskapliga studier inom samhällsvetenskap (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Other Social Sciences -- Social Sciences Interdisciplinary (hsv//eng)

Keyword

Caring sciences

Vårdvetenskap

INTERDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH AREAS

TVÄRVETENSKAPLIGA FORSKNINGSOMRÅDEN

Surgery

Kirurgi

Publication and Content Type

vet (subject category)

ovr (subject category)