Living with cancer is not always easy. People with cancer and their loved ones are affected. Symptoms and side effects of treatments may require adjustments to a family's daily routine.
Knowing what I can do myself to treat symptoms helps those affected to cope with such situations.
The symptom flyers are not a substitute for talking to your treatment team. If you are unsure or have any questions, please contact your treatment team.
The side effects of cancer treatments can be unsettling. It is not easy for cancer patients to know whether the severity of a symptom can be treated themselves or not. The Symptom Navi flyers provide guidance on this.
Those close to cancer patients are also affected. The diagnosis and treatments can make them feel uncertain or even fearful. The symptom flyers can also help relatives and loved ones to better understand how to deal with symptoms.
Everything people do to cope with the consequences of an illness and its treatments is self-management. Family members may worry about cancer patients and often want to support them. They can help those affected to implement self-management. The symptom flyers can help with this, as they also provide further tips and refer to brochures and support from the Cancer League. It is also important for family members to take care of themselves.
Below you will find a list of symptoms or topics for which a leaflet is available. The leaflet entitled "Symptom Navi" explains how you can use the leaflets. Click on the coloured bar to open the leaflets.
Note: not all leaflets are publicly available. The complete set of leaflets is in the internal area of the website. Ask your treatment team if you can have access to the internal area.
If you are an affected person or a support person and would like access to a leaflet that is not publicly available, please write to: info@symptomnavi.ch
The videos provide instructions on what to do if you have breathing problems.
The short films (in German) were created at HEdS-FR in 2015 (produced by Andrea Serena, François Mooser, Alain Favre, Gabrielle Santos and Manuela Eicher) and are available on Vimeo.
Videos in English are available here, produced by the Juravinski Cancer Centre.
“I was ready to learn and implement from the start. I knew that they had put this together based on experience, and I was ready to apply it.”
“It made me feel more confident, I had something in my hands that I could refer to (...) It was clearly described and I stuck to it (...)”
'The facts have been clarified through discussions with caregivers. Then you will know what is going on.”
“If it were to drift into the yellow or red zone, then yes, I would have to (...) see what it could be. But if that's not the case, then I don't have to worry about it.”