AFTER CANCER: INSIGHTS AND HANDLES TO HELP YOU GET TO YOUR NEW LIFE
Posted on Mar 12, 2009 under Cancer | No CommentMany millions of people have recovered from cancer. The experience of these veterans provides insights and handles for helping you through the transition to your new life after cancer. There is no way to eliminate all the emotions, discomforts, inconveniences, worries, strains, and uncertainties. However, you can learn ways to cope with the difficulties of recovery and living with a cancer history. You can learn tricks and philosophies that will make the hard times easier.
Elaborate investigation and analysis of a problem serve a purpose. But at times a simple phrase helps more than all the sophisticated, caring discussion in the world. You can spend hours discussing the fear of recurrence, but sometimes saying, “Recurrence is not a death sentence,” is all you want or need. After investigation and analysis, a simple phrase can help you recapture all the derived insights and benefits at a later time, without going through the tedious process again. You can learn about the family dynamics when one member is sick, but at times you are best served by the simple statement “Cancer is a family affair.”
Handles are aids for moving from one place to another. Their usefulness depends as much on the person using them and the place where the person is going as on the handle itself. Some handles may become your mantras of self-help, providing dependable comfort and inspiration whenever you feel the need. You may find other handles worthless to you. Specific handles may be helpful to you only under certain circumstances or at different times in your life. If the handles help you, use them. If they do not, look for other handles that do. The following are offered to make your transition to your new life as safe and smooth as possible.
The roller coaster of cancer.
Having cancer and undergoing cancer treatments are often compared to being on a roller coaster: good days and bad days, easy days and rough days, peaceful days and stressful days, hopeful days and disappointing days, comfortable days and uncomfortable days. The ride does not stop with your last treatment. Be prepared for posttreatment medical problems and emotional upsets.
Checkups, tests, and cancer- and treatment-related problems cause fluctuating anxiety, frustration, depression, and disappointment. As time goes on and your cancer history recedes farther into your past, the ups and downs will smooth out.
The tools you have acquired through your cancer experience will help you deal with the non-cancer-related trials of life in such a way that you can end up with a smoother ride after cancer than before.
Expect strong emotions and reactions.
Your reactions and emotions after finishing treatment are real, no matter how extreme. The completion of treatment marks a major transition, in which you and your family again face the seriousness of your situation. Strong emotions are also expected after checkups, at holidays and anniversaries, and when potential and real problems occur. Overall, strong emotions will lessen with time. Strong emotions show that you are thoughtful and connected to the world around you. You would have to be an unthinking, unfeeling zombie to get past posttreatment milestones without experiencing any emotions.
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