AFTER CANCER: FEARS AND WORRIES ABOUT CANCER
What If Many Questions, Fears, and Worries about My Cancer Have Resurfaced?
At the time you were first diagnosed, there were many questions, fears, and worries. Once the decisions about therapy were made and you began your treatment, you could put aside questions and concerns about the medium- and long-range future to some degree. After treatment you are again faced with many small and big decisions and uncertainties. You have to confront the reality of the changes that happened during treatment but that did not affect your life during treatment.
During treatment you may have had physical pain, but you focused on getting through your treatments. Having survived, you now fear ongoing or worsening pain.
If you are single and your treatment rendered you sterile, you may have been too ill during therapy to desire to socialize or worry about infertility. Now that you are getting well again, you may experience concern about the effect of your infertility on your social relationships. You may experience grief over your lost fertility now or later, even though the actual loss occurred during treatment.
Another source of renewed questions, fears, and worries is an insecurity that the posttreatment tests missed something. You may want reassurance that the treatments did indeed work and that they are all the treatments you will ever need. Even if everything goes perfectly and all your tests look good, the best you can be told is that you are fine right now. After treatment you reenter the world of judgment calls, multiple right choices, and great uncertainty.
How Can I Lessen These Worries?
The key to managing fears and worries is becoming informed and acting on your knowledge. Find out as much as you can about your situation, weigh all of your options, and then follow what feels right for you. After the decision has been made that no further therapy is needed, put all of your energy into getting and staying well.
There comes a time when you must trust the test results, trust your doctors, trust your decisions about therapy, and decide to put the issue behind you.
If you do not trust the test results or your decision that your therapy is complete, you need to find out why. Then pursue a route that will provide information and decisions that you can trust. If you feel that you will never trust any test results or any doctor’s advice, it is time to speak with a counselor skilled in the issues of the cancer survivor.
In order to be emotionally healthy, you must be able to trust.
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Tags: Cancer