A Knowledgeable Supportive Care Team Can Help Unravel the Complex Issues of Survivorship

An Interview with Michelle Kirschner, CRNP: Survivorship and Supportive Care Leader
In this episode, Michelle and Jill discuss:

• How the Cancer Survivor Provider Network (CSPN) came to be
• The need to serve survivors well
• The resources, learning opportunities, and networking provided by CSPN
• What is the National Coalition of Cancer Survivorship
• Survivorship starts the day of diagnosis
• Survivorship often includes the grief of giving up the vision of what your life was
• The acute and extended phases of survivorship
• Practice self-advocacy
• Get your crew together and leverage their talents to take stress off you
• The power of supportive organizations
• The benefits of pre-hab and rehab
• An onco-generalist is a person who understands all the elements of supportive care
• Have your cancer team kill cancer – they are the experts; and your supportive care team deal with the quality of life issues, where they are the experts 
• The social worker, dietitian, physical therapist, exercise specialist, and sexual health specialist can all be members of your supportive care team – the experts in supportive care
• Journaling for a purpose
• Help your cancer or supportive care provider understand your experience with journaling
• The helpfulness of phrasing your concerns in a knowledgeable way (obtain your information from credible sources) 
• Your journaled information gives your care team something to work with 
• Journaling helps you share with your providers what your life looks like outside of those 15-minute office visits
• Journaling helps you understand how your body and symptoms change over time – you are not static
• Understanding and dealing with cognitive changes after cancer treatment
• Create your supportive care plan from the day of diagnosis, knowing what you can do at every step to be more successful with lifestyle medicine: nutrition, optimizing sleep, exercise
• Your supportive care plan helps you have a better quality of life
• A knowledgeable, supportive care team can unravel the complex issues of survivorship