Teens and cancer: After cancer | AboutKidsHealth at The Hospital for Sick Children

Find out what happens after cancer treatment ends, and what you will need to do to prepare to transfer to an adult health-care centre. Your health-care team can help you with the transition.

For more information, visit https://teens.aboutkidshealth.ca/cancer

This video is provided for general information only. It does not replace a diagnosis or medical advice from a healthcare professional who has examined your child and understands their unique needs. Please speak with your doctor to check if the content is suitable for your situation.

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VIDEO TRANSCRIPT

Sue: As part of helping teenagers and families with transitioning to an adult center, we will sometimes in the months to a year before the transfer happens, we'll try to engage the teenager in being more responsible for knowing their medications, understanding their treatment plan and and asking them direct questions about their side effects and how they're doing at home.

David, Social Work: The reality is, as you get older it's gonna be a responsibility, you no matter what. And so one of these that we think about is ensuring that as the teens that we work with get older and older, that they're more involved in not only the decision-making but are more aware about their healthcare. More aware of what you've been through in terms of treatment, because ultimately you're going to be the one who's needing to follow through with monitoring and taking care of your own health.

Dr. Gupta: Many children's hospitals say that once you turn 18, you're no longer a kid and you cannot be treated at a children's hospital. Some hospitals will have slightly different age limits of maybe 17 or 21, but in general you probably will be transferred to an adult hospital.

Carolina: It is kind of sad because like your team that worked with you the entire way they're pretty much like family, right. Like you're with them so much.

Bethany: I was very used to the hospital where I went for treatment for my childhood cancer. It was familiar, it was safe. Everybody there was very friendly. And I was just nervous about what the adult hospital would be like.

Norma: I think it's a hard process. I think it's a bit uncertain what to expect and I think the differences are really apparent. The minute that you walk into the institution it's, you know, it's unfamiliar and likely they would have been very familiar with the pediatric setting. They're gonna look around and where they had been used to being the oldest people around they're gonna now be looking that they're really much younger than the majority of the people around. Just getting used to like, like what how they work there. Like learning about how would they how they do things there. Maybe meeting some nurses or doctors. Maybe that would help me feel more comfortable there.

Dr. Hodgson: As kids become teenagers and they go off to college or university they are going to need to become familiar with you know student health services, or who's going to be in charge of their primary care. And that's something that often they haven't had to be aware of when they were, you know, kids or younger teenagers.

Sue: Typically, at a children's hospital, we talk to the whole family, including the teenager. And the whole family is very involved. At an adult hospital, this changes. This dynamic changes quite a bit.

Dr. Gupta: So, you've gone from being somebody who was trying to be independent, to being dependent again on your parents. And now all of a sudden boom you turn 18 and you have to be independent again. So, my advice to you, is as much as possible maintain your independence even during cancer treatment. Learn what's happening to you. Listen to what the doctors trying to explain to you and your parents, so that you have the confidence to be able to understand and communicate that with your new health care team once you get to the adult hospital.

Norma: Try, try to build that relationship. Be open to a new relationship.

Sarah: So, I'm going to an adult hospital in the coming months, just for a checkup. And how I prepare for that is just really um, kind of get away from the whole children's environment now. I just kind of see myself as just a person going in for a, you know, regular everyday checkup. Just to make sure everything's okay.

Bethany: I started going on my own to my appointments. And again, there's nothing wrong with going with your family for the first many appointments. I was with my mother. We'd make it like a daughter-mother bonding day out. But then I started going on my own and it was a nice way to transition into like I'm now in my own taking the TTC. I'm on my own taking transit and going to the hospital. And this was close when I was going to university as well, so that kind of went together very well. Going on my own to university. Going on my own to my appointments. I was taking charge of my life.

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