Managed Vs. Cured: A More Holistic View of Healing

If you received a medical diagnosis and the doctor asked, “We can either cure you or manage your disease, what would you prefer?” Everyone, myself included, would choose to be cured so we could put the experience behind us and move on with our lives. This is especially true for a chronic condition (a disease that lasts longer than a year and requires ongoing medical care). The truth is that for as far as modern medicine has come many conditions, sometimes even serious ones, are not curable. But with modern medicine, the disease and its symptoms can be managed and as a result, people go on to live otherwise healthy lives for years and decades to come.

In healthcare cured is a word that is often misunderstood or inaccurately used. The average person probably doesn’t think twice about using the word but doctors are more cautious because it connotes a state of permanence and restoration to how you were prior to diagnosis. It means that you’re done and you don’t need to see your doctor again about it. Can doctors confidently guarantee that a patient’s diagnosis will never return? It really depends on the diagnosis but it would be awfully disappointing for any patient to be told that they were cured only later to learn that their disease returned. Instead, clinicians are more intentional with their words and so you might hear treated, controlled, or managed – terms specific to oncology are “cancer free” and “no evidence of disease” (NED) – and if you do, that’s a great thing. 

Coronary heart disease, hypertension, some cancers, strokes, respiratory diseases, diabetes, allergies, depression, addiction, these are all diseases that we don’t know how to cure but we have successful ways of managing it so people can get back to living. It might be done with surgery, medications, therapy, or even diet & exercise and patients are monitored with routine check ups, blood tests, and medical images (X-ray, CT-Scan Etc.) Over time, patients learn how to live with their disease and it becomes part of who they are but it does require a whole lot of work for the patient as they have to keep track of doctor appointments, medications & refills, health insurance, medical records, establishing complementary care and a list goes on. It’s a burden of responsibility that falls on the patient’s shoulders and it can be a lot, especially when newly diagnosed, and having a patient advocate helping you in these overwhelming times could be tremendously beneficial. 

I’m going to be bold and say that just managing your symptoms and disease is a good start but providers can do better for their patients. What if the healthcare industry started viewing patients as the people they are and not just the disease they were labeled with? What if we learn what defines each patient and help them get back to that person rather than just the physical condition prior to diagnosis? This would be a more holistic view of what it means to be healed and as the ethos of Tikkun Patient Advocates, it’s how we approach each person or family member we get to work with. We tailor our approach to each person’s needs and desires, making it just as unique as they are, to help them create a new normal where they can thrive by their definition of the word.