Life After Treatments
Hearing the words – YOU HAVE CANCER – can make your heart stop. The next words you hear are those of your diagnosis and prognosis. The first thing that races through your mind is when am I going to die? Cancer still has that stigma that it is a death sentence and we all know that is no longer a likelihood as it was 20- 30 years ago. Lets be honest though, how many good or positive stories do we hear about cancer? At this point, you know what type of cancer you have and how they are going to treat it + you will have an idea as to the success rate of your cancer whether it’s remission, cure or terminal. Without going into further detail, this sums up the first few hours of your initial diagnosis day. Then you will have a treatment protocol which can consist of chemo, radiation, surgery, a combination of these or, nothing depending on your diagnosis. To summarize, you have been told you have _____ cancer and now you have a plan. Talk about a whirlwind!
As you progress through your treatment protocol you become familiar with treatments, side effects (if any) from them and you have, for the most part, accepted your new gig as a cancer patient. You life consists of treatments, Dr. appointments, tests, blood work… all the while you dream, visualize and anticipate the very last day of your treatments and what that is going to be like. FINALLY, the day has arrived, you are finished YAH! You’re going to blow this Popsicle stand that is cancer and jump back in to your “normal life”. You think back to your diagnosis day and what you went through and here you are now – FINISHED! Your family, friends, co-workers and others are so excited for you and can’t wait for you to pick up where you left off. How many times have you heard – dude that’s awesome your done – lets go do this or lets party it up or get back to work? The funny thing is, yes – your mind is telling you to do that, but, your body is telling you otherwise. This is where I am going to speak on behalf of my fellow survivors to all of you who want your loved one to jump back into their old life – NOT GOING TO HAPPEN – not right away anyway. I can tell you this – yes, we are so excited to get through the most traumatic individual happening in our lives, but, even though we are finished – we have just begun the recovery process. Please try to understand this. Its important for you all to know that we need time to fully embrace what we just went through and, even though we look fabulous on the outside, its a completely different picture from the inside. Don’t feel like you have to treat us differently – just be willing to know that we will have good days and we will have bad days. That’s my tips to all of you amazing family, friends and such as to the survivors in your lives.
Now – the fog has lifted and its sunny days and clear skies – life is beckoning! Wait a minute, what am I supposed to do now? I have left my safe place as a cancer patient and the daily regime that came with it. No more meds, chemo, nurses… what do I do? how will I get by? Do these thoughts sound or are they stuck with you right now post treatments. We should be out having a great time, celebrating, back to work or school, hanging with friends/loved ones – why am I feeling so stuck? Don’t worry, you are not alone and this is very common. This is the transition stage of cancer – when you are moving from patient to full time survivor and it can be the hardest part of your entire cancer journey. Its hard for a person who hasn’t been through a cancer diagnosis to understand – but – It’s WAY harder for a cancer survivor to comprehend. I can talk about this in earnest because I know this from experience. I was diagnosed with acute lymphocytic leukemia back on August 5, 2003 at the age of 34. I was in treatments for 2 years straight which entailed 5 months as an inpatient in the hospital, over 600 chemo treatments, 2 weeks brain radiation, 1 trip to reverse isolation in I.C.U. and over 34 blood and platelets transfused into me. In total, I was away from my “normal life” for almost 3 years. I know firsthand about anxiety, depression, not feeling normal… you name the emotion and I guarantee that I have experienced it. On the plus side, I have also learned a lot about the full cancer experience. My journey was long and arduous but here I am today, now 41 years old, my wife and I are going to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary in October and this August 5 we will celebrate my 5th cancerversary post treatments. I guess you can say that I have earned my stripes lol. My wisdom on the topic of life post cancer is valuable and I will share with you some insight as to how I coped with this transition phase and how I have turned the most traumatic experience in my life into a positive and smooth transition post cancer. I will leave you with tip #1 and follow up with articles in the days ahead.
Tip # 1 – You have to become the CEO of your own life! Meaning that you call the shots, no one else. You know how you’re feeling whether it’s lack of energy, fatigue etc. Do things, if your lifestyle permits, at your own leisure. Don’t be ashamed if all you can do is go for a 5 minute walk because just know, that in the day, weeks and months after will be better and better as they come. Take the time to heal from within – physically, mentally/emotionally and don’t let others tell you what you should be doing!
Until next time.
Cheers.
