Home Stretch

I’m just back from the chemo clinic after starting my final treatment cycle. My platelet count is still low so I received a reduced dose. I’m on the oral chemo for two more weeks and then I’m done! Yeah! A little too early to celebrate but it feels good to be on the home stretch.

While you wouldn’t expect it, this stage of recovery presents its own share of problems and issues. In the words of Sam Donaldson… “A cancer diagnosis leaves you feeling sad and scared, overwhelmed and isolated. Treatment can leave you physically devastated… Picking up the pieces during and after recovery presents its own set of physical, emotional, and social challenges.”

I became aware of this first-hand after my first round of surgery and chemo a few years back. I found the period immediately after chemo to be a time of great relief and gladness, but it also had its own challenges. Susan Nessim and Judith Ellis have written a great book called “Can Survive: Reclaiming Your Life After Cancer” . In it they talk about the particular challenges commonly experienced by cancer survivors once the treatment is over. The overall theme of the book is around making the transition from being a patient to a survivor, from being a person with cancer to a person with a history of cancer. A couple of excerpts…

“On leaving the hospital or outpatient clinic, recovering cancer patients are faced with a bumpy transition period as they learn to adjust to life without the intensive medical support they received during treatment. During this particularly vulnerable time, survivors encounter unanticipated difficulties, such as anxiety over ending treatments, fear of recurrence, and a variety of other problems of adjustment… In addition, some must learn to adapt to chronic pain or the loss of a body part, while others are at risk for long-term complications of treatment.”

“As they reenter the mainstream, recovered patients must frequently contend with such formidable cancer related obstacles as employment and insurance discrimination, altered family relationships, loss of friends, and, for some, loss of fertility. In short, cancer creates lifelong physical. Emotional, and psychological changes…”

Chapters that really spoke to me included:

• Making the Transition to the Well World
  
• The Emotional Aftermath
  
• Moving Beyond the Fear of a Recurrence
• When the Resume Includes Cancer

I’ll reflect a little more on some of these challenges over the next couple of weeks.

BTW… The local community newspaper did a short story on me and my blog last week. Here’s the link… “Minister Battles Cancer”

TTFN… Rob; in Vancouver

“The road to recovery can be pitted with potholes?” Susan Nessim