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Health of the Whole

Why treating the psychological, as well as physical, aspects of cancer matters

Restaurateur Dennis Serras looks back on his life before esophageal cancer and realizes: Most of the low periods he experienced were more likely the result of a really bad day than depression. Even after undergoing chemotherapy, radiation, an unexpected emergency colon surgery and having a large portion of his esophagus removed, Serras felt like he was sailing through cancer and treatment pretty well.

Everything changed -- for Serras and his family -- when his surgeon Mark Orringer, M.D., came into his hospital room with news that, despite his successful surgery, cancer cells were discovered on the outside of his esophagus. This meant another round of chemo and radiation.

"This really sent me into a tailspin," Serras said. "After two days of chemotherapy, I couldn't take it. The depression was awful. It encompasses you 100 percent and you can't do anything about it."

Social Worker Donna Murphy, L.M.S.W., C.C.L.S., from the PsychOncology Clinic at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center explains that, just as in normal life, cancer patients experience ups and downs. With cancer, people are forced to deal with the unknown in a way most people never know.

"No two experiences with cancer are ever the same," Murphy says. "The many-changing circumstances of an illness and the time frames and predictions for prognosis add to the worry and concern. Combined with other life changes, people can feel overwhelmed and helpless, which can impact the complicated decision-making that lies ahead."

As a self-employed partner of 17 restaurants in five states, Serras was able to put work aside and into the capable hands of others when necessary. Yet, he knew his cancer was taking its toll on his wife, Ellie, their two daughters, and his brothers and sisters.

"I was always looked at as a leader in my family, someone who can't be sick," Serras said. "Your whole family gets sucked into it. They want to do what they can. My wife was with me. My girls were with me every day, at the house or at the hospital. Ellie says I was on my back more than I was standing after that second round of chemo and the depression."

 

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