When treatment ends, patients with cancer combat challenges - STLtoday.com

"Many patients find themselves asking: What now?

"When you lose the security of knowing that you're acting toward curing your cancer, it's really scary," said Barbara Platzer, 72, of Chesterfield, who finished treatments for ovarian cancer three years ago. "Every time I'd go for chemotherapy, I'd have a doctor looking at me and doing lab tests where I'd see that my (cancer antigen-125) numbers were improving. And that made me feel secure, like I had control over what was happening. I felt like we were actively killing the cancer.""