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Facing Cancer Recurrence, PTSD & Acknowledging Mental Health
Cancer: Managing Symptoms | Last Active: May 28, 2022 | Replies (434)Comment receiving replies
Good morning to @merpreb and the rest of us who have experienced recurrence of our cancer diagnosis.
This morning I read this Mayo article on Managing Your Emotions After Cancer Treatment and felt that many of the ideas were worth sharing. Here is the link to the article,
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/cancer/in-depth/cancer-survivor/art-20047129
For me, the paragraph titled, "Fear of recurrence is common in cancer survivors." was most helpful and I thought about others on Connect. The suggestions included being honest about your fears, talking about them, healthy lifestyle habits of nutrition and exercise. As I thought about myself, after three cancer surgeries, I realized that the following have helped me deal with my fears. Here are some examples: I attend support groups with other cancer survivors, I've also joined exercise programs intended to be gentle (not vigorously aerobic), I've worked to plan nutritious eating.
I look forward to hearing from you. What do you do to keep your fear at bay? How do you deal with the normal fears of another recurrence happening?
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Good morning @hopeful33250. Good morning everyone! What a wonderful article about cancer recurrences. Thank you so much.
My most feared fear is that I would die from my next cancer, that there would be no treatments anymore for me. My feelings are that I wouldn't know what to do. I would be lost. I mean how do you die? How does anyone? What do I do to prepare from this eventuality. I'll be lost. My parents never taught me a thing about dying. The way I handle this - with no guarantee of a solution - is that I let these fears repeat themselves enough that they literally wear themselves out over time. I think dying is a major fear because we haven't a clue what it's all about after we actually die. Is there another type of existence after we die? Will a higher power greet me? Or is death the same thing as before we are born and therefore we will only have existed in people's memories? As you can see, I haven't resolved this yet. I hope that I do but I might not.