How to Handle the Emotions of a Cancer Diagnosis

How to Handle the Emotions of a Cancer Diagnosis
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How would you react if a doctor told you that you have a diagnosis of terminal cancer with a short time left to live? Cancer is quite common throughout the world. Many people each day have to grapple with the unwanted news of cancer. Too many people will hear the dreaded phrase “You have cancer” this year.

Build Optimism

The most important thing to do when you hear those dreaded words is to steel yourself to remain optimistic. Oncologists and surgeons often give a dire prognosis of limited survival time that does not actually end up being realistic. With many different kinds of experimental therapies available now to cancer patients, many patients with cancer live many years longer than the time they were told they had left according to their surgeon or oncologist.

Create a Support Group

Thus cancer patients should be proactive to obtain information about their diagnosis and build a community of other survivors of their specific type of cancer. One’s physician, the hospital, social workers, chat rooms about cancer on the Internet, and local cancer organizations are good places to start to gather information about a cancer diagnosis and build a community to help one gain knowledge about how to proceed with treatment.

The Cancer Survivors’ Network of the American Cancer Society is at: https://csn.cancer.org. This site offers community support with other cancer survivors, information about clinical trials, and information about community resources for patients living with cancer. There is also a resource library available at this site and an “I Can Cope” program to help cancer survivors. For more information, call 1-800-ACS-2345. Another excellent resource is the website www.cancer.com/cancer.

Spend Time with Friends

Also, it is important to reach out to friends who are positive and can provide encouragement. Take time to nurture one’s soul and body via enjoying time with people who are important to you. Also, find quiet time to think about and discuss with valued friends the issues that must be resolved before treatment starts.

Touch Base with Spirituality

Spirituality is often also very important at the time of a cancer diagnosis. Even if one has been absent from private or community worship for some time a cancer diagnosis, or talk of possible cancer from a surgeon is perhaps a time to reunite with one’s spirituality.

Reorganize Your Priorities

Talk of possible cancer or an actual cancer diagnosis often causes one to reorganize their priorities for life. Suddenly trivial issues matter not at all. Spend quiet time with yourself to truly think about what is important to you now, at this specific time in your life.

Make sticking to your priorities a daily concern. Take the time to let your life be what you need it to be as you enter a stage in your life that includes cancer.

Eat Well & Garden to Avoid Pesticides

Nurturing one’s body with healthy foods, particularly foods from the earth such as vegetables and fruits is always important, and even more so after a cancer diagnosis. Gardening is very therapeutic and some cancer patients like to grow their own vegetables to ensure they are free of toxic pesticides.

Find Joy in Nature

Growing flowers may help a cancer patient find joy and experience stress relief while out in nature. Gardening is often a joyful process. Watching something one planted sprout to life is quite exciting. Colorful flowers also bring a touch of nature and energy to the home when brought inside.

Volunteer to Help Cancer Patients

If you would like to help a cancer patient get a ride to treatment, call 1-800-ACS-2345 to volunteer as a driver or provide the use of your car to help cancer patients receive life saving treatments.

Source: https://www.cancer.org