Taking Back Your Life After A Total Laryngectomy

Have you reclaimed your life after having a total laryngectomy? I am a speech-language pathologist with over twenty years of clinical experience. I work at a university medical center with head and neck populations, including those who have had a total laryngectomy. I had the opportunity to attend the 7^th Head and Neck Cancer Symposium. Although this course was geared toward healthcare professionals, I wanted to share content important to you, the survivor. 

The Decision-Making Process

One of the most impactful lectures, from Barbara Ebersole – speech-language pathologist, was about the decision-making process, and regret experienced after becoming a total laryngectomy. The real take home message was that lack of self-efficacy increased decisional regret. For example, if your goal is to be able to return to a satisfying life after a laryngectomy, your confidence in your ability to accomplish this goal (self-efficacy) is key to being able to deal with problems that arise along the way. 

Take The Quiz

I encourage readers to take this short quiz to see where you fall in your self-efficacy related to cancer. The link can be found here: Microsoft Word – Cancer Behavior Inventory Brief 12 item.docx (nd.edu). Whatever you score, take time to reflect on “the why.” Why do you feel confident and how can you maintain that? Why do you not feel confident, and how can you gain confidence? 

Increase Your Self-Efficacy

Below are some tips on how you can increase your self-efficacy from Self-Efficacy: Definition, Examples, and Tips to Improve (psychcentral.com).

1. Mastery experiences – Set small goals and then reflect on those accomplishments when you meet them. This can give you confidence that you will meet the next goal.
2. Vicarious experiences – Meet with other survivors and learn how others have succeeded. This can help you see how you can overcome similar challenges. Here are some site links to help.
   1. Support Groups – Lary’s Speakeasy
   2. Peer-to-Peer Program – Head and Neck Cancer Alliance) 
3. Verbal persuasion – Give yourself positive feedback for everything you have overcome so far. Just being alive right now is an accomplishment worth acknowledging. 
4. Physiological state – Find ways to manage anxiety and stress like meditation or breathing exercises. A study from Australia, found that psychological well-being (level of stress, depression, anxiety) had the strongest strong association to quality of life in total laryngectomees (Perry, Casey, Cotton, 2014).

“If I have the belief that I can do it, I shall surely acquire the capacity to do it even if I may not have it at the beginning.” – Mahatma Gandhi

References/resources:

Heitzmann, C. A., Merluzzi, T. V., Jean‐Pierre, P., Roscoe, J. A., Kirsh, K. L., & Passik, S. D. (2011). Assessing self‐efficacy for coping with cancer: development and psychometric analysis of the brief version of the Cancer Behavior Inventory (CBI‐B). Psycho‐oncology, 20(3), 302-312.

Perry, A., Casey, E., & Cotton, S. (2015). Quality of life after total laryngectomy: functioning, psychological well‐being and self‐efficacy. International journal of language & communication disorders, 50(4), 467-475.

Self-Efficacy: Definition, Examples, and Tips to Improve (psychcentral.com)

Dr. Lenius earned her undergraduate degree at the University of Central Florida and her Master’s and PhD at Florida State University. Her dissertation research was in the area of head and neck cancer and swallowing. She has over 20 years of clinical experience and currently works in an outpatient role at UF Health providing patient care primarily to head and neck cancer survivors and laryngectomees.