Background:

Every year 55,000 people in Sweden are facing a cancer diagnosis, a diagnosis that alters the patient's life-world. Many patients survive thanks to good research and good treatments, and that the disease is detected early. The treatment is tough and intense and affects the patient in several ways, both at body and soul. It is important that as a nurse showing support and thus prevent that unnecessary care suffering arises.Aim: The aim of this study was to describe patients´ experiences of daily life from the time around their cancer diagnosis to treatment.Method: In order to capture the patient's experience in a life-world perspective four biographies were analyzed based on Dahlborg- Lyckhages inductive method of analysis. The biographies were written by patients at different stages of their cancer disease.Results: The result of the analysis became five different themes: denial, anxiety, hope, sorrow and struggle. The themes highlight the patient’s experiences and feelings from the cancer diagnosis to treatment. All themes indicated that the support of the nurse and the patient's family was important to the patient. After receiving the cancer diagnosis the patient started an internal struggle for survival, which lasted with the patient during the course of disease.Conclusion: Nurses encounter patients with cancer every day, regardless of department or workplace. It is therefore important that nurses and other healthcare staff increase their understanding of patients´ experiences. A better understanding may lead to a health care that can be improved for these patients.

Keywords:

Background:

Every year 55,000 people in Sweden are facing a cancer diagnosis, a diagnosis that alters the patient's life-world. Many patients survive thanks to good research and good treatments, and that the disease is detected early. The treatment is tough and intense and affects the patient in several ways, both at body and soul. It is important that as a nurse showing support and thus prevent that unnecessary care suffering arises.Aim: The aim of this study was to describe patients´ experiences of daily life from the time around their cancer diagnosis to treatment.Method: In order to capture the patient's experience in a life-world perspective four biographies were analyzed based on Dahlborg- Lyckhages inductive method of analysis. The biographies were written by patients at different stages of their cancer disease.Results: The result of the analysis became five different themes: denial, anxiety, hope, sorrow and struggle. The themes highlight the patient’s experiences and feelings from the cancer diagnosis to treatment. All themes indicated that the support of the nurse and the patient's family was important to the patient. After receiving the cancer diagnosis the patient started an internal struggle for survival, which lasted with the patient during the course of disease.Conclusion: Nurses encounter patients with cancer every day, regardless of department or workplace. It is therefore important that nurses and other healthcare staff increase their understanding of patients´ experiences. A better understanding may lead to a health care that can be improved for these patients