Connect
← Return to Started immunotherapy maintenance: What side effects can I expect?
Discussion
Started immunotherapy maintenance: What side effects can I expect?
Lung Cancer | Last Active: Mar 15, 2022 | Replies (51)Comment receiving replies
Thanks, Cindy. With all of the scans come other issues that have probably been hiding for years: kidney stones, enlarged prostate, etc. which they are dealing with in the here-and-now to head off complications in the future. While I feel positive about my direction I carry a real heavy sense of survivor's guilt when I hear about people like your husband and see other cancer patients on a much tougher road when I'm at Mayo. Cancer is cruel.
Replies to "Thanks, Cindy. With all of the scans come other issues that have probably been hiding for..."
@tats Feel positive and enjoy any and all gains you make against cancer and try not to have survivors guilt.....because as long as there are people who ARE getting better, there's always hope for even the sickest now and in the future. After all, I'm a breast cancer survivor (so far) and if I hadn't lived there would be no one to care for my husband now. What we need is more survivors.....we can't let cancer win this thing. You are a kind person. Hugs and good luck.
Connect
@ta52- Everyone's life's journey is different, and so are their cancer journeys. After my first lung surgery there wasn't any protocol for treatments. And I felt guilty for not suffering like everyone else. I felt like I had joined a group, but was on probation because I didn't have all of the credentials. Looking back I can certainly understand this thinking but it's unrealistic. For me, I felt like I hadn't suffered enough so I needed more treatments. It was part of my terror This is what feeling survivor's gilt is all about. Of course I feel horrible for all of us. I've had 23+ years of it and watching people who were friends die.
Right now it is considered part of PTSD.
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/325578#what-is-it
My son once asked me, "Mom, what do you get out of feeling guilty?" Boy, did that stop me short. What I got out of it was beating myself up about not quitting smoking sooner. It wasn't actually about anyone else. But everyone is different. Everyone has their own reasons. It's a great question to ask though: "What do we get out of it?"