Among the 434-bed hospital at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City, resides an entire floor dedicated to enjoyment, welcomed distraction and camaraderie. This is where roughly 35,000 cancer patients, family and friends circulate.
Recreation centers are somewhat new to the cancer wards; usually saved for nursing homes and pediatric units. Though, here at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, this lounge is putting fear into its place and diminishing the worries, riddles and melancholy cancer often brings.
Mr. Gugliotta, 46, is an out-patient, reporting every three weeks for chemotherapy. He was diagnosed with lymphoma in June and has had two lengthy stays at the hospital since. Violating rules several times, fleeing to the 59th Street Bridge for a hot open-faced turkey sandwich, Gugliotta was clearly restless being cooped up in his room. This was until he found his nesting ground in the cancer lounge.
“It’s enjoyable here,” he said. “And it’s where you can talk about what’s inside you, because it’s inside everyone here.” Gugliotta says of the recreation center.
Happiness is often an unreachable state for those undergoing cancer diagnosis and treatment. The lounge offers an environment where those fears and anxieties are subsided. When patients come to the lounge the overall feeling is the comfort found in being with those who are dealing with the same tribulations.
Activities offered range from a weekly poker game to a “Look Good … Feel Better” program offering women make-up application techniques and wigs to improve their looks. “We don’t talk about doctors or appointments,” Penny Worth, a former Broadway performer and the program’s coordinator, told them. “We get away from that. Be girls.”
Seun Adebiyi, a 26-year-old Nigeria native, was diagnosed early summer with lymphoblastic lymphoma and stem-cell leukemia, both extremely aggressive cancers. Olympic-bound, Adebiyi had to cut his running career short; his diagnosis “…completely reshuffled the deck.”
He found enjoyment in the recreation center. “When you talk about your cancer, you don’t get the intake of breath, the sharp gasp,” he said. “No one is rushing to get anywhere.”
Those with especially aggressive cancers like Adebiyi, require a great deal of mental and physical distraction from the intense treatment protocol they endure. Mesothelioma is a fast acting type of cancer that is primarily caused by the inhalation of asbestos materials. The fibers attack the mesothelium, a protective two-layer lining that covers the body’s internal organs. Because its symptoms are very similar to bronchitis and influenza, this disease can take 20-50 years to diagnose.
Pleural mesothelioma is one of four forms of mesothelioma that calls for aggressive action. Those suffering mesothelioma suffer intense exhaustion from the exposure to chemotherapy, radiation and certain types of surgery. Treatment regimes such as this call for the distraction that the cancer lounge offers.
Sloan Kettering mesothelioma patients are given the opportunity to escape the truth and tiring nature of the disease. Greatly benefiting from the atmosphere that the cancer lounge has to offer, patients are granted endless activities to allow their mind to wander from reality.
The recreation floor at Memorial Sloan-Kettering offers the relief that cancer patients necessitate. Mandating a “No White Coats Rule”, patients can relax without their doctors hanging over them. Here, cancer patients share laughs, play Speed Scrabble or just lounge amongst those who understand them best.
