Julie's Story

Julie considers herself lucky to have had a radiation oncologist who was proactive in prescribing physical therapy as a part of her treatment plan. “It seemed at the time like a small detail,” she notes. But it would prove to be an indispensable part of preparing her for treatment and recovery.

Julie was also much more comfortable pursuing physical therapy once she met her therapist and learned she was experienced with cancer patients and treating the side effects they might suffer. Julie admits she may not have been as open to rehabilitative therapy if the clinicians she worked with had never treated someone with cancer, or didn’t understand what she was living through.

“My ReVital therapist had so many examples of patients she had worked with, people who came to her late in their treatment with severe issues that were preventing them from performing daily activities and that affected mobility,” she adds. “Their doctors hadn’t told them about the benefits of physical therapy, didn’t make it a priority, and didn’t refer them. My therapist had a working knowledge not only of cancer, but sarcoma specifically. She possessed an in-depth understanding of different treatments and how they could impact quality of life.”

Now that Julie’s wound-closure surgery is complete, she is counting down the days until she can resume physical therapy and work her way back to living and enjoying a pain-free life.

“Oncologists tend to focus on the active treatment phase, and, unfortunately, there is less attention paid to what happens after treatment ends,” Julie says. “A greater emphasis on how to recover post-treatment needs to become commonplace, especially the implementation of rehabilitation efforts during treatment.”