Guest Post from Timothy Elliot

Timothy Elliot is a cancer health advocate dedicated to helping patients diagnosed with terminal illnesses cope with their diseases. If you have any questions, feel free to email him at creative4lyfe@gmail.com. Thank you, Timothy, for asking to use my blog as a forum for your work.


Ways To Cope With Cancer

Mentally processing and coping with chronic illnesses, like cancer, can be more complicated than some may assume. The emotional highs and lows, coupled with the physical trauma of enduring treatment side effects and chronic and sever pain, make for mentally distant, depressed, anxious, and stressed individuals. The different stages of cancer, from diagnosis to remission, each bring up distinct concerns and techniques for coping with them.

Diagnosis

Diagnosis is undeniably a very difficult process . The initial diagnosis presents the patient with a wave of new and shocking information. Starting with denial, the patient can experience a wide range of emotional distress. Coping with the emotional anxiety, depression, and fear often means that newly diagnosed patients miss important medical information during appointments with their doctor’s. New patients should take time to digest the news before attempting to understand exactly what treatment options are recommended. It can be especially taxing on those, like children and young adults, who are not usually considered at a high-risk for cancer. Allowing time for mental recuperation, and possibly scheduling an additional appointment, means that the patient has time to sort through their emotions, thus allowing them clarity of mind later, during the discussion of treatment options.

Treatment

Cancer treatment is also a mentally taxing experience. The level of aggression of treatment may depend on the patient’s type and stage of cancer. For example, mesothelioma patients often endure extremely aggressive treatment. Because of the latency of mesothelioma symptoms, patients’ cancer tends to have already metastasized. Mesothelioma life expectancy rates are low, and patients diagnosed with terminal cancer naturally experience a more drastic range of mental and emotional distress symptoms. Cancer patients struggling with anxiety and stress disorders, whether depression or panic attacks, may find relief in complementary therapies. Often, doctor recommended relaxation treatments like restorative yoga, massage, acupuncture, and tai chi offer both physical and emotional relief. Patients who feel that their health situations are beyond their own influence are often empowered by the possibility of reducing their own pain and improving their immune systems through their efforts, thus allowing a bit of much needed emotional stability. It may also be beneficial for patients and families of patients to seek professional guidance, either from therapists, support groups, or a combination of the two.

Remission

Though it may seem as though cancer survivors should be relieved and elated when they’re declared cancer-free, news of remission can result in devastating mental and emotional effects. Those who no longer have to battle cancer often live in fear and anxiety, dreading the return of the malignant cells. According to the National Cancer Institute, post-treatment survivors should be honest about the complexity of their emotions, coming to terms with the fact that there is nothing wrong about feeling fearful rather than happy. Expressing these feelings to supporters and family members can also aid in avoiding confusing family situations and miscommunications. Because of this support groups can be a crucial component of coping with cancer remission. Support groups offer companionship that individual counselors and doctors sometimes cannot. Being able to share mentally and emotionally challenging moments with those who are enduring them or who have overcome them provides a sort of outlet for patients. For example, speaking with a doctor about the difficulties of having survived breast cancer does not have the same mental outcome as speaking with other patients or survivors. Knowing that they are not alone in their mental and physical distress helps them to realize that their thoughts and feelings are not unfounded or unnecessary, but that they are natural and expected and that they can be coped with and, eventually, overcome.

Time Flies When You're Having Some

Wow, it's been 6 months already since my last treatment. That means I'm 6 months in remission. Another 4.5 years and I'm cured! I'm very optimistic. I'd bet my life on it.

Time flies when you actually have some. Time to do what you want, time to work, time to play, time to yourself. No more daily or weekly hospital trips. No more being sick. No more needles. No more bone pain. No more toxins pulsating through your veins. That's the best part. I don't miss it in the least. It's funny, while you're going through all the treatment you just go with the flow and it becomes a part of ordinary life. It's not until after you've completed it all, and can now reflect on what just happened, that you realize you went through a lot of hell and crap.

Now my life is truly ordinary and I like it that way. I've been back at work for some time and am enjoying it. I like having a place to go to everyday. My boss is the greatest person I've ever met. He's been so patient and cooperative with my occasional follow up appointment (I have to have blood tests and CT Scans every 3 months), my tiredness and my chemo brain which has affected my memory quite a bit. But all should be totally back to normal soon.

I almost forgot to mention that I've finally resolved the chest and flank pain issues that landed me in the ER to only discover the tumor. If you've been following, I was in the ER December 2009 for the pain, and then again March 25, 2010 when they found the cancer. I was also back to the ER for the same pain in August 2010, which had us all perplexed because we thought the issue was resolved. Not so. January of this year it came back. I had just gone to bed and the aching started. I took a couple vicodin because I knew what was about to happen. It happened. The pain got so intense that I finally gave in and had Don drive me to the hospital. The only thing different this time is that the ER Doctor asked me if I'd ever had an ultrasound done of my gallbladder. No. So they did one the next day. Guess what. Multiple gallstones. Out it goes. I'll be happy to be rid of it. Actually, I have to be grateful to that lousy gallbladder because had it not been for the attacks, the tumor would not have been found so early stage and I would have had to go through much more chemo and radiation. Thank you, malfunctioning organ.

Once again, I manage to get away with something. Luck is on my side for sure.