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D
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espite
cancer being one of the most prevalent diseases in the world, receiving a
diagnosis still comes as a shock. In this article, we offer advice from both
healthcare specialists and those who went through cancer on how to cope with
this diagnosis.
We
spoke to healthcare professionals and gathered online resources to support you
in your pursuit of well-being and coping with cancer.
According
to the World Health Organization (WHO), cancer is
one of the most widespreaddiseases
worldwide. The National Cancer Institute (NCI) estimate that, in the United
States alone, there were approximately 1,685,210 new
cases of cancer in 2016.
What are
some practical ways that could help you to cope with the shock of a cancer
diagnosis, and allow you to make the best decisions for yourself?
Medical News Today have spoken with healthcare professionals and explored the
experiences of people living with cancer with the aim of bringing you advice on
how to face this unwelcome news.
'Make sure you understand your diagnosis'
Getting
diagnosed with cancer comes as a shock to anyone, but one important way of
coping with it is to be well informed. Cancer is often surrounded by an aura of
myth, and much of what we think we know about it can be based on hearsay.
So, an
important first step is to get as much (specific) information as possible, from
both your doctor and other reliable sources.
Dany
Bell — a specialist advisor on treatment and recovery at Macmillan Cancer Support,
based in the United Kingdom — told MNT, "Being
diagnosed with cancer can be a big shock, even if you already suspected you
might have it."
"Cancer
is a word that can stir up many fears and emotions," adds Bell, "but
making sure you fully understand your diagnosis can help you feel more in
control of the situation."
The NCI
also list a set of suggested questions that
you can ask your doctor about your diagnosis.
In a
vlog about her experience living with stage four ovarian cancer,
Texas-based Sharon
Nancespoke about how staying informed helped her to cope with this
news.
"If you ever find yourself faced with a cancer diagnosis
[...] [b]efore you go into a panic mode, I say take a deep breath, be calm,
gather as much information as you can about what type of cancer you're dealing
with, what the odds are for the type of cancer that you have, and then go from
there, because if you know what you're dealing with, it's not so
frightful."
Sharon Nance
Speaking to your doctor
Often,
communication with your physician might feel tricky, since the subject of a
cancer diagnosis is always a heavily loaded one. Both you and your healthcare
provider might find it difficult to communicate efficiently.
Dr. Ann
O'Mara — head of Palliative Care Research in the NCI's Division
of Cancer Prevention — told MNT that
there is no magical recipe for success in these cases, but that open
communication is very important to ensure that you get the information you
need, and that your physician knows how you are coping with your diagnosis.
"If
the communication with that physician is causing you to be more stressed out
you have to communicate that to the physician," she said.
"Patients have to [...] communicate to physicians if they're not
getting the right information, or if the information is really devastating to
them, they have to be open [with] their physician," Dr. O'Mara emphasized.
The NCI
also offer detailed
advice on how to approach your healthcare team in order to
ensure the best and most effective communication with them.
Talk about it
Symptoms
of depression and anxiety are
often a natural outcome after a cancer diagnosis. After all, there are so many
unknowns to this equation, and this is a journey that will undoubtedly turn
your life upside down.
That is
also why it's so important to be able to count on a strong support network.
Approaching
friends and family
Bell
told MNT that being able to rely on a
good support network is always helpful, even though speaking to the people
around you about your diagnosis may be a challenge all on its own.
"Telling friends and family you have cancer can be
daunting, but many people find that having a good support network around them
really helps. You may want to tell those closest to you first. After this, you
might find it helpful to make a list of who you want to tell. If you like, you can
ask someone you trust to tell people for you."
Dany Bell
"Before
telling someone you have cancer," Bell added, "think about what
details you want them to know. Writing this down might help."
Although
you may find this difficult to begin with, speaking to friends and family about
your diagnosis can help.
Dr.
O'Mara agreed that it's important to talk about your diagnosis with your
nearest and dearest. It may be helpful, she noted, to "start with [your]
family, and then with friends." She also suggested that some might find it
easier to tell just one friend to begin with.
"You
tell one friend, you tell your closest, your best friend, and you ask them to
be [...] the sounding board for you, so you're not spending all of the time on
the phone talking to everybody," she said to MNT.
Additionally,
the physical context in which you talk to others about your diagnosis is also
important, Bell pointed out.
"Choose a time and place where you'll have time to talk without
being interrupted," she advised. "Try to be honest about what you
know — it's O.K. to say if you are unsure about anything, or can't answer all
their questions."
Asking for help
Dr.
O'Mara also told MNT that
it may be hard for individuals newly diagnosed with cancer to solicit support,
even though they may find that friends shower them with offers of assistance.
She
suggested to ask for specific, pragmatic help with small things, such as a lift
to your next medical appointment, or a cooked meal. Small, targeted actions can
go a long way.
"When people come to you and say 'how can I help you,' the thing
that you can do is give them a task, ask them to do something [specific], [...]
ask them to make a meal for you," said Dr. O'Mara.
Finding
a dedicated support network
You may
also find it helpful to locate a dedicated support group online, or in your own
community. There are many kinds of cancer support groups, which you may be able
to trace through online
searches or by speaking to the specialist by whom you were
diagnosed.
Dr.
O'Mara explained for MNT that
you should easily be able to find a support group just by asking your
healthcare provider.
"In most of our cancer centers," she said, "and even in
our local physicians' offices, any experienced clinicians [...] — doctors,
nurses, nurse practitioners etc. — usually have a list of local support groups.
Oftentimes the hospitals run them for newly diagnosed cancer patients and their
families."
Still,
as U.K.-based Dr. Liz O'Riordan — a consultant oncoplastic breast surgeon who
has experienced breast cancer —
notes, online support networks should not be discounted either.
In her TED talk, she speaks about how she unexpectedly found much-needed
emotional, as well as practical, support through social media.
Dr.
O'Riordan explains that she "got her own secret tribe" by using
Twitter, which helped her to find other healthcare professionals who had been
diagnosed with a form of cancer and were about to undergo treatment.
Being
able to talk to people who were, or had been, in a similar situation to her was
a valuable self-care resource, she says in her talk.
Use anger and grief as a 'lever'
Responses
of grief and anger are normal feelings to experience when receiving a cancer
diagnosis, but such emotions need not be destructive.
The NCI
say that, in addition to discussing your feelings with healthcare professionals
and your trusted support group, it may help to keep a journal and write
down your feelings, in order to fully process them.
In a
vlog, Nance said that these negative emotions can sometimes be used for
leverage. For instance, anger helped her
to understand that she didn't want cancer to take hold of her entire life.
"You have every right to get angry, and I almost encourage
that you get angry because it is that fire that's going to make you get up and
say 'you know what, O.K., I've got cancer, but I [will not] continue to dwell
on the negative aspects of this disease anymore.' And that's what I had to
ultimately do."
Sharon Nance
Don't let cancer take over your life
"You
have cancer, but don't let it have you," added Nance.
Cancer
may be in your body and affecting the way that you live your life, but
continuing some old activities that you took pleasure in, or taking up
something new, such as crafting, drawing, or writing, could help you to stay in
touch with who you are outside of your health profile.
If
you can, keep doing some of your favorite activities, or pick up a new hobby,
to help you focus on something other than your diagnosis.
The NCI
suggest "looking
for things you enjoy" and shifting more of your mental and
emotional focus onto something pleasant and creative. Some gentle exercise,
they say, might also prove useful.
On her
blog, Dr. O'Riordan also notes that even though the least taxing physical activity may
be exhausting — especially if you're going through chemotherapy — this
could help you to cope.
"The best thing you can do is to do a little bit of exercise every
day. [...] I hated getting ready to go out but felt so much better for it, and
felt I'd earned the right to veg out on the sofa for the rest of the day,"
she says.
Nance
candidly explained that
"it is a work in progress to learn to live with cancer." There is no
right or wrong way of coping, and what is essential is that you stay in charge
of your body and your life.
For more
advice and information on how to cope with a cancer diagnosis, check out the
NCI's advice, as well as
the American Cancer Society's (ACS) dedicated
online resources.
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