A new self-understanding as chemo sufferer - a phenomenological study of everyday life with chemotherapy induced neuropathy among survivors after colorectal cancer.

PURPOSE: To explore the essential meaning of how sensory disturbances caused by Oxaliplatin influence self-understanding and freedom to live an everyday life among survivors after colorectal cancer. METHODS: Data was generated by means of a semi-structured individual interview with eight survivors after colorectal cancer who continued to experience chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy at least one year after completing chemotherapy with Oxaliplatin. Data analysis was guided by existential phenomenology and descriptive life-world research. RESULTS: The essential meaning was structured by four constituents. 1) An unpleasant fluctuating sensation which is impossible to ignore, 2) Breaking through of noise and pain despite struggling to keep them at bay, 3) Continuously feeling ill despite being cured, and 4) Bodily constraints that impact self-understanding and limit enjoyment of life. CONCLUSION: The survivors used distraction to keep the sensory disturbances at bay but were forced to adapt to a new self-understanding as sufferers after chemotherapy despite being cured of their cancer disease. This way of being-in-the-world was understood by survivors, their families and healthcare professionals as a necessary price to pay to be alive. However, marked as sufferer after chemotherapy, the participants' everyday style of experience and life revealed as an ill health condition, which limited their ability to accomplish everyday activities as before and their freedom to realize their potential-the "I can".

A peculiar experience- everyday life with chronic sensory disturbances after oxaliplatin treatment for colorectal cancer - a phenomenological study.

Purpose: To deepen the understanding of how survivors' experience and give meaning to the embodied phenomenon of chronic sensory disturbances in everyday life after oxaliplatin treatment for colorectal cancer.Methods: Data was generated by means of a semi-structured interview guide and drawings with the aim to explore eight survivors' lifeworld experiences. Data was analyzed through a phenomenological approach.Results: The essential meaning of sensory disturbances emerged in two main themes and four sub-themes. Theme A: 'A peculiar experience that is difficult to logically understand' with the subthemes; 'An ambiguous perception in hands and feet' and 'Being alienated from one's own body'. Theme B: Losing touch with the world' with the subthemes: 'A lack of sensory contact with physical surfaces' and 'Breakdown of sensitivity in hands hampers fine motor skills and social contact'.Conclusion: Sensory disturbances contributed to an ambiguous and discordant perception of an alienated body that was difficult to describe and affected the ability to act and connect to things and other people. Metaphors and drawings were valuable as means to verbalize and illustrate the changed body perception where the 'I can' changed into 'I cannot'. To support the embodied connection to the world new usage patterns were required.