Nursing Case Study Examples

Patient is a 65- year- old,heterosexual, upper middle class, a caucasian female who has been fighting esophageal cancer for the past year and a half. The patient is married with two adult children. She resides at home with her husband and has an exceptionally supportive immediate family, friends, and relatives. Patient has an older sister whom she is very close with. She reports having a job that she takes great pleasure in. Patient has experienced a difficult time coping with her cancer diagnosis. However, the patient was deemed cancer free a month ago. Currently, the patient is experiencing great difficulty addressing the aftereffects of cancer such as physical changes and anxiety due to the health circumstances.
The patient becomes extremely emotional when discussing her
The patient has completed chemotherapy and radiation. She is suffering from extreme physical as well as emotional changes. The patient is particularly emotional about cancer in general as well as her new appearance. I have noticed that the patient frequently mentions that she wonders if cancer will return. It appears the client may be suffering from PTSD symptoms. The most common symptoms of PTSD that cancer patients experience include flashbacks or re-experiencing a traumatic moment, avoidance, helplessness/hopelessness and intrusive symptoms (Crowe, 2015).
The patient has undergone trauma due to her unanticipated and sudden cancer diagnosis followed by intensive treatment. DSM- V states that the medical incident needs to be sudden and catastrophic to be considered a formal PTSD diagnosis (Crowe, 2015). Client reports that she frequently replays the doctor diagnosing her with cancer in her mind. The cancer symptoms and diagnosis were sudden for the client. It scared the client even more that her type of esophageal cancer was intensive and rare and required instant