Adjusting to Life After Cancer Treatment

After Cancer Treatment

You've finally "made it" - you endured the grueling, all-consuming journey that is cancer treatment and you're on the path to survival. But what happens when you leave the oncology unit and step back into the world you used to know before cancer changed everything?

For many cancer survivors, forging a new life after treatment can be fraught with uncertainty as they attempt to grasp a new sense of normalcy.

"Very often we think, wait a minute - you're done with treatment! You should throw a party for yourself and go about your merry way," says UW Comprehensive Cancer Center (UWCCC) psychologist Teresa Woods, PhD (pictured).

But after the initial jubilation wanes, survivors are left to pick up the pieces. During cancer treatment, they had rearranged their entire lives to fight their disease; what happens after treatment, when cancer is no longer part of their day-to-day existence?

"People stop and say, 'Wait a minute - what kind of life do I lead now? I am profoundly changed. What do I do now?'" says Woods, who spoke Monday at the opening of UWCCC's Cancer Hope, Cancer Health Week. The week features four days of lunch-time learning sessions, culminating with a picnic dinner on Thursday for cancer patients and anyone touched by the disease.

Dealing with mortality

During her session entitled "When Treatment is Over What's Next?" Woods discussed the wide range of emotions and questions that emerge post-treatment. It's a dramatic change from pre-cancer life - when death is an abstract notion and most people tend to live their lives as though death "will never touch us," Woods says.

But after being confronted with a cancer diagnosis, says Woods, "reality comes into crystal clear, sharp focus." Face-to-face with their own mortality, many cancer patients will bargain with God, promising to live a pristine life in exchange for survival.

"I really mean it, God," Woods said, echoing the "deals" cancer patients often make during treatment. "If you get me through this, I'll become the Mother Teresa of Madison, Wisconsin."

The mistake many cancer survivors then make after treatment is unrealistically trying to live up to those lofty promises, Woods says. As a cancer psychologist, she's counseled patients who had promised to quit drinking, or stop using credit cards, or, her personal favorite, to "never speak harshly to my husband again."

"But you know what? Life goes on," Woods says. "Sure enough, you're going to want that beer. Sure enough, Marshall Fields is going to have a shoe sale."

And eventually, you might even speak harshly to your spouse. But Woods says when such things happen, it's an indication that you're settling in to "a new normal" in your post-treatment life.

"It means that cancer is taking less room in your thoughts and in your life," Woods says.

Shifting priorities, focusing on purpose

More profoundly than anything else, cancer prompts people to shift priorities and focus on purpose in life - particularly when they're faced with the prospect of having only a finite number of remaining days, Woods says. After treatment, such concerns are compounded by worry that the cancer will come back.

Woods emphasizes to patients the importance of remembering what a privilege it is to be alive, and she encourages them to "Be Where You Live." She says this is particularly valuable advice for people who worry about things they did in the past that might have contributed to their cancer - such as smoking or poor stress management.

"Spending time in the past - that's not only a ticket to depression, but it's a stupid waste of time," Woods says. "You don't live in the past, so don't go there."

Woods encourages people to engage in "radical self-care," including massage, yoga, meditation and other therapies that can help people center themselves while garnering the physiological benefits necessary to help fight cancer. Radical self-care also includes simply having fun and having things to look forward to, Woods says.

"It doesn't have to be anything big," she said, noting that her own daily escape is a bubble bath.

Woods uses the analogy of a checking account to illustrate her point - every time you write a check for your bills and expenses, you're depleting your stash of money. If you don't make a deposit every now and then, your checks become meaningless. The same is true with your storage of intrinsic energy, Woods says.

"If you don't take time every once in a while to make a deposit, then pretty soon, everything you do is worthless," she says. "That's what we mean by radical self-care."

Participate in Cancer Hope, Cancer Health Week

Several more events are open to the public during Cancer Hope, Cancer Health Week.

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MADISON - Copyright 2005 University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics Authority - http://www.uwhealth.org/