Abstract
In one pivotal instant your life has changed and there will be no turning back. How will you accept, adjust and adapt to being “someone who has cancer”?
Well, first, you are still the same person. But now you have a definitive diagnosis calling for your immediate attention.
There are hundreds of kinds of cancer, distinguished and identified according to site, type of cell involved, aggressiveness and evidence of spread. These are the critical details you need to know as you begin to understand what is going on in your body.
There will be much to learn and understand about the disease and prognosis; social, emotional, sexual and spiritual effects; treatments, therapies and their side-effects; work implications and how all these opportunities and challenges will be intertwined.
But you don’t need to do everything at once. In time, and with support, you’ll be able to move forward with poise, strength, calm and intelligence.
Well, first, you are still the same person. But now you have a definitive diagnosis calling for your immediate attention.
There are hundreds of kinds of cancer, distinguished and identified according to site, type of cell involved, aggressiveness and evidence of spread. These are the critical details you need to know as you begin to understand what is going on in your body.
There will be much to learn and understand about the disease and prognosis; social, emotional, sexual and spiritual effects; treatments, therapies and their side-effects; work implications and how all these opportunities and challenges will be intertwined.
But you don’t need to do everything at once. In time, and with support, you’ll be able to move forward with poise, strength, calm and intelligence.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Specialist publication | The Conversation |
| Publication status | Published - 21 Sept 2023 |