Coping with Cancer, Part 9 - Resources for the Patient and Family

This is the final installment of a 9 part series dealing with the cancer diagnosis. It contains information about how to find resources, advocacy, financial and emotional assistance and medical support in your own community, within the government, on the web and from non-profit organizations.

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Coping with Cancer, Part 8 - Living Each Day

This is installment 8 of a 9 part series dealing with the dreaded cancer diagnosis.  Each person must work through, in his or her own way, feelings of possible death, fear, and isolation. Returning to normal routines as much as possible often helps.  Give the pleasures and responsibilities of each day the attention they deserve.

While the subject matter of this series is the process of dealing with cancer, the principles contained here can be used for many kinds of serious and life-threatening health problems. This perspective is most appropriate for this installment.

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Coping with Cancer, Part 7 - The Cancer Patient and the Outside World

 

This is installment 7 of a 9 part series dealing with the dreaded cancer diagnosis. 

Cancer (or for that matter, any catastrophic medical diagnosis) is a blow to every family it touches. How it is handled is determined to a great extent by how the individual and his / her sphere of friends has functioned as a unit in the past. 

Some friends will deal well with your illness and provide gratifying support. Some will be unable to cope with the possibility of death and will disappear from your life. Most will want to help but may be uncomfortable and unsure of how to go about it. You can help your friends support you: 

Ask yourself, "Have friends deserted me or have I withdrawn from them?" 

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Coping with Cancer, Part 6 - Cancer and Self-Image

 

Installment 6 of this 9 part series dealing with the dreaded cancer diagnosis discusses the effects of the disease on the patient's self-image and feelings of self-esteem.

Cancer treatment can extend over weeks or months; side effects may come and go. Side effects can make you feel rotten, even make you think the cancer has returned. 

If you cannot seem to regain good feelings about yourself, seek professional counseling or therapy. If your relationship is endangered by the stress of cancer, get professional help. You need each other at this time. 

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Coping with Cancer, Part 2 - Should You Tell?

 

 

Who and when do you share the news of your illness? The diagnosis of cancer hits most of us with a wave of shock, of fright, of denial. Each person needs a different amount of time to pull himself or herself together and to deal with the reality of cancer. Only you really know your emotional timetable. Think about sharing at a time when you are ready to do so. 

Usually, family and close friends learn sooner or later that you have cancer. Most people with cancer have found the best choice is to share the diagnosis and to give those closest to them the opportunity to offer their support. They have found it easier, in the long run, to confide their fears and hopes rather than trying to hide them. Of course, you must comfortably time your words in telling family and friends that you have cancer.

 

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