One Thing Cancer Can’t Change

May 18, 2012 Posted by Dawn

(The names of people in this article have been changed to protect people’s privacy.)

I saw a new friend of mine at my chiropractor’s office this morning. I’d seen her there before, but we had not talked much. Today we got a chance to get to know each other a bit. Sylvia’s quite a fascinating person.

She’s somewhere between 1 and 2 years old, although I’m not the best at judging that kind of thing. She was waiting for her mother to get a chiropractic treatment in the other room. She was walking, sitting, talking, and playing in the waiting room. Sometimes she’d talk to the office manager and me, and sometimes she’d just talk to herself, which she seemed to enjoy just as much. She is tiny, beautiful, has big blue eyes, and blonde ponytails sticking out of each side of her head. And she had some awesome pink and purple sparkly sneakers on her feet. Are you getting the visual? Cuter than cute.

I started engaging with her, asking what sounds a dog makes, a bird, cow, etc. since those were the ones on the toy she was playing with. She was really good at all the animal sounds. Diane, the office manager, said Sylvia often presses the music button on the toy and dances, but she didn’t feel like doing that when I was playing with her. She likes to talk, but I couldn’t quite figure out most of what she was saying.

When Diane asked her, “Sylvia, how old are you?” She replied, clear as a bell, “I’m me!” Diane asked again, “Sylvia, how old are you?” and Sylvia again responded, “I’m me!”

Her mother came out from her treatment and when she heard what was going on, she told us that when they went into the bank this morning, Sylvia said to the tellers, “Hi…I’m me!” And of course, they all fell in love with her that moment.

I think maybe Sylvia is on to something here. No matter what anyone asks her, or what happens in her day, she is still her. It didn’t feel right to her to say, “I’m 2” because she’s not “two,” she’s Sylvia. No matter what age she is, she’ll always be Sylvia. No matter what labels other people give her, no matter what happens to her, she will always be “me.”

Just got me thinking…even if we have cancer, we are still us. Wouldn’t it be great if instead of “I’m a cancer patient” or “I’m a cancer survivor,” we could just say, “I’m me”? Or when someone asked us what kind of cancer we have, what kind of treatment we are undergoing, or how long we have had cancer, we could just respond, simply, “I’m me?”

It might be a good reminder to say out loud what is most definitely true…that “I’m me,” no matter what. When we’ve had a cancer diagnosis, we might think differently, believe different things, behave differently, or feel different emotions. There are obviously lots of changes in our lives that happen because of cancer. But we are, at our essence, still us. Cancer can not touch that. No treatment can change that.

I said to Sylvia’s mom and Diane that I wish I could just say, “I’m me” wherever I go and whenever someone asked me a question about myself. The office manager said someone might be tempted to admit me to a psychiatric facility if I did that. Could be. So I decided I would say it to myself instead…as a reminder…none of the things that have happened to me can change who I am at my deepest core. I am, and will always be, me.

Sylvia might just be the wisest person I know.

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Tags: "coping with cancer", cancer, Cancer articles, Cancer blogs., cancer coping, Cancer emotional support, Cancer emotions, Cancer help, Cancer resources, Cancer support, Cancer support services, Cancer websites, Cope with cancer, Coping cancer, Coping with cancer diagnosis, Dealing with cancer, emotions and cancer, Help for people with cancer, How to cope with cancer diagnosis, Living with cancer, Support of cancer
Categories: Mindset Shifts

Depression Is Not a Dirty Word

May 4, 2012 Posted by Dawn

Lots of People Living With Cancer Experience Depression
If you’ve experienced depression during cancer treatment, you’re not alone. Up to 25 % of cancer patients/survivors experience a major depression, with a much greater percentage experiencing lower levels of depression.

Why Is It So Hard to Talk About?
One of the reasons depression is difficult to talk about because of the stigma. We have been trained to think that if someone has depression, there is something wrong with them…that they are weak or too sensitive, or somehow incapable. So no one really talks about it, and then when we do, it’s like we’re admitting to a deep, dark, yucky secret about ourselves.

We Need to Stop the Stigma
If the stigma about depression continues, then we continue to stigmatize ourselves when we experience depression…and that just makes everything worse. Then not only are we depressed, but we also feel somehow “less than” everyone else.

Here’s the Real Deal…
If you were to ask around (and I have) you would find out that a significant percentage of people in the general population, even those who have not had a life-threatening illness, have had some level of depression at some time in their lives. I was depressed throughout most of my treatment and beyond. I can’t tell you how many cancer patients/survivors I’ve talked to who admit they have depression and they think they’re the only ones. When they admit it in a group, they find numerous others saying, “Me too!” I once admitted in a group meeting that I was experiencing depression and about 80% of the people in the room admitted that they had had some form of depression within the last year.

What You Can Do
Change your mind about depression. If you experience depression, acknowledge that you’re not alone. Decide to believe that there’s nothing wrong with you. Depression doesn’t say anything about you as a person, it doesn’t mean anything in particular about you. It just says you have a problem that needs to be addressed. It doesn’t mean you’re less able, less competent, less smart, less anything than anyone else. There have been plenty of extremely intelligent capable, successful people who have had depression. If you have not had depression, you’ve likely known someone who has. You can fight the stigma by first changing your own beliefs about depression.

When you are going through treatment, it pretty much makes sense that you would be depressed. You are facing your mortality and the possibility of suffering. You are forced to engage in a battle you never wanted to take up. That’s about as depressing as it gets. But that doesn’t mean that there aren’t things that can help you, because there are.

Get support. If support means family and friends, and that kind of support works for you, fine. If more formal support like a support group or peer-to-peer program are helpful to you, great. Many people (like me) found it necessary to get professional support to learn strategies to manage depression and other natural feelings/experiences that go along with cancer. Find something that works for you. But help is available, so please don’t go it alone.

I’d love to hear your thoughts about this! If commenting on this post is too public for you, you’re welcome to email me.

Photo Credit: Dawn Pelletier Stratton

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Categories: Coping, Managing Emotions

To Research or Not To Research…That Is The Question

April 20, 2012 Posted by Dawn

Another topic that comes up frequently in my work with cancer survivors is internet research. One problem with researching your cancer on the internet, is that then you have all this information that you might or might not be able to do anything with. Another problem (and probably the biggest) is you might now have some information that is completely freaking you out.

Now there are some people who do some research about their cancer on the internet, become well-informed about their situation, treatment options, prognosis, etc., and then turn off the computer and move on with their treatment and their lives. However, the majority of people I’ve talked to don’t do this. They find information about the percentage of people who do well on the treatment they’re doing and the percentage of those who don’t. Or even worse, the percentage of people who die.

So where do you draw the line?

When I was 8 years out from my own cancer treatment, I was making some decisions about health insurance plans, since I was self-employed. I looked for some information/statistics about the risk of recurrence after 5 years for my specific cancer. I did not like what I found out. It scared the daylights out of me. I had been thinking I would have almost no chance of recurrence, and the research told me otherwise. Was it from a reliable source? Yes. Did it apply to me, my exact situation, age, gender, etc.? I don’t know…I was too wigged out to look any further.

So how do you find that balance between being well-informed and being freaked out?

1. Don’t automatically go online to research your cancer because that’s what you think you should do, or because you think you want to know. Make a conscious decision that you are going to do research and be aware that you might find out things you don’t like. Decide what will be useful or helpful about knowing the information you’re looking for. Once you know it, it’s hard to un-know it, so be mindful about why you are looking. What will you do with this information? Will it help you make a decision about treatment? Know what questions to ask your doctor? If so, then it might be worth the risk. If you don’t know what would be helpful or useful about knowing the information, figure that out before you go online.

2. Decide how you will deal with this information if it turns out to be upsetting. If you have good coping skills, you might need to use them. For example, after I was done crying because the information took me by surprise (I set myself up to expect only positive information) I reframed my thoughts. Instead of letting the research tell me there was a good chance of me not making it to my 10th cancer-versary, I told myself that I could be (and likely, would be) one of the people in the other percentage group who would live a long life; then I committed to focusing on that thought instead of the former.

I sometimes talk with clients about an “internet diet.” Just like with food when we go on a diet, we don’t go completely without, we just find a balance with our eating…not over-eating and being careful about what we consume. It’s the same with an internet diet…don’t over-research and be careful about what information you consume.

What has been your experience with internet research? I’d love to hear from you.

Photo Credit: EthicalSuperstore.com

Dealing With Too Much Advice

April 6, 2012 Posted by Dawn

Advice/Information From Every Direction
Every person who’s been diagnosed with cancer knows that once people find out you have cancer, information and advice comes at you from every direction. Of course, you have the medical professionals telling you what you need to do next, and that’s necessary. But then you have well-meaning friends and family members giving you advice. It seems like everyone and their brother has something to say that will help you get better or feel better.

I Remember That Feeling…
People told me what books to read, who to talk to, what to eat, do and think. People gave me information on special treatments in Mexico that cure cancer, told me to eat more raspberries, urged me to keep a positive attitude (don’t get me started on that one)…well, you get the picture.

Not That It’s Bad, Just A Lot to Take In
I’m not saying any of this was necessarily unhelpful or bad advice, because some of it was really helpful…it was just a lot to take in. And I’m almost positive that, if you’ve been diagnosed with cancer, you can relate, because hundreds of cancer survivors I’ve spoken to have had a similar experience. Again, these people are well-meaning and want to help, and they just don’t understand the amount of information you’re trying to absorb on a daily basis.

The Problem: Overwhelm
So here you are, dealing with cancer, which is hard enough in and of itself, and then you find yourself completely overwhelmed. There seemed like so much information coming at me from all directions at all times, I would find myself thinking, “Incoming!” whenever anyone would open his/her mouth.

Dealing With Overwhelm: The Filter
I found that if I didn’t come up with a way to deal with all this information I would walk around feeling like I might be crushed under the pressure of all this information and advice. So I came up with a “filter.” I decided that whenever anyone spoke to me, what they said would have to pass through the filter.

The filter sorted out into 3 categories:
1.    Makes Sense (Try it, it can’t hurt)
2.    Maybe Helpful (Not sure right now, save for later)
3.    Nah. (Unhelpful or overwhelming)

1. “Makes Sense” Category
If information made it into the first category, then it made sense to me and could be helpful to incorporate into my life. Or it couldn’t hurt to try it, and doesn’t feel overwhelming. So for me, if someone told me to try a certain over the counter medication for heartburn because of chemo, I’d probably try it. Wouldn’t take much effort, and can’t hurt to try. Then I can decide for myself if it’s helpful. My doctor’s advice always went into this category, because I trusted him and he knew what he was doing.

2. “Maybe Helpful” Category
If it made it into the second category, that means I determined it might be helpful, but I didn’t want to act on it right away, so I might store the idea for later and decide at another time. For example, I might not be sure that eating raspberries would help much with anything, but I’ll store it in my mind for later. Then if I happen to go past some in the grocery store, I might pick them up. But I’m not going to rely on them to cure my cancer or run right out in the middle of my day to buy a crate.

3. “Nah” Category
If it went into the 3rd category, I would say “Nah” to myself and let it go. In other words, I didn’t buy the advice/information that was coming at me, or disagreed with it, or it felt overwhelming to me to think about doing it at that time. For example, if someone told me to go to Mexico for a special treatment for my cancer, I would thank them politely for the brochure, and then to myself say “Nah, I don’t think so,” and put it in the trash after they were gone. If something feels overwhelming, it is a sign that it goes in this category. Overwhelming = not helpful at this time. Use your belly as a barometer. If you start getting that anxious feeling in your belly, it’s probably adding to your overwhelm and you can let it go.

Now, maybe the Mexico brochure would be in someone else’s 1st or 2nd category…we’re all different. But for me the idea of going to Mexico in the middle of cancer treatment was too much. Anxious feeling in my belly, circular file.

Try this the next time someone gives you advice/information and see if it helps with overwhelm. I’d love to hear how it goes.

Photo Credit: adrysmomma04

Managing the Emotional Rollercoaster of Cancer Part 3: Diving Into the Waves

March 24, 2012 Posted by Dawn

(This is the third of three articles of a series.)

As stated in the first two articles in this series, you will most likely have emotional ups and downs throughout the cancer experience, and this is normal. Cancer is scary, angering, and saddening. Having these feelings when you have cancer is natural and part of being human. However, sometimes the intensity of these emotions scares us, along with the fact that they can seem to change very quickly.

One way to manage the emotional rollercoaster is to “dive into the waves.” Let me explain. Remember when you were a little kid at the beach? If you were like me, you learned quickly that if you saw a really big scary wave coming and you just stood there, you would be in big trouble. Also, if you tried to run away from the wave toward the shore, through the water mind you, it would often catch up to you and bowl you over. The experience of being overtaken by a wave is not comfortable. Its power would often jerk me around under water and turn me upside down until it finally spit me out. I’d often have a nose full of water and, as my best friend called it, a “facial scrub” from being pushed face first down in the sand under the wave. I would get up disoriented and wonder if I wanted to go back in the water at all.

However, we learned how to “handle” the waves. If a big one was coming, we would dive straight into the wave, even if we were scared to death. Then we would come up on the other side and wait for the next one…and we knew the next one would come, but we also knew we could handle it. We could catch our breath, ready ourselves, and just dive.

It can be much like this with emotional pain. Maybe you’re sad because of all the losses from cancer…and for good reason. So be sad. Give yourself permission to just be sad for a while instead of fighting it off. You might cry or just sit quietly when a wave of sadness comes over you.

The funny thing is, you will find that you can handle it. You are resilient and strong, and you’ve been sad before and handled it. We spend so much time fighting off feelings or running away from them or judging them that we don’t even know what the pure feeling is really like. It might not be as bad as you think, or it might be as bad as you think, but it passes.

We expend a lot of energy trying to get difficult feelings to go away…actually fighting the feelings from coming through. They don’t feel good and we want them gone. Now, I’m not saying don’t ever try to make yourself feel better. Certainly, if you have healthy strategies that help you to feel better, then by all means do them. For example, talking things through, changing your scenery, going for a walk, exercising, writing in your journal, changing the way you think about something…these things can all be healthy ways of getting through difficult feelings. If, however, you find that the things that maybe used to work don’t work sometimes, or they work to some degree but the difficult feelings continue to pop up, it may be time for another strategy. In this case it may be time to give yourself permission to feel them fully.

This approach might not make you feel better in the moment necessarily, but this kind of acceptance may help to manage the rollercoaster, to not feel like you are fighting all the time. Cheri Huber, in her book Suffering is Optional: Three Keys to Freedom and Joy, says, “We spend our lives in torment, trying to avoid feeling emotions that, if we allowed them, would last a matter of moments. The awareness that we do not need to control our emotions is vital.” Allowing our emotions may help us to feel better over time and may open up space to feel more joy. This joy may be more natural and real, rather than the “surface” type of positive attitude we often try to force upon ourselves.

Again, we usually think it’s the difficult feeling that is the problem, but it’s actually the judging of the feelings and ourselves that is the real problem. The judging is what makes us miserable. Going back to the beach analogy, we wouldn’t judge the wave as bad or wrong, and we wouldn’t judge ourselves as bad or wrong for having to handle and navigate the waves. The wave is what it is and we are doing what we have to do to cope with it. If we face the feeling, (face the wave), give ourselves permission to feel the feeling, (dive into the wave), and withhold our judgment of the feeling or ourselves (accept that the wave is coming and we are going to handle it), the process can get much easier.

**Note: If you try any strategies mentioned in these articles and have a difficult time or your feelings get more severe, please contact a health professional immediately. If you find that you are feeling sad all the time and it doesn’t lift, you’ve lost the feeling of enjoyment when doing things you used to enjoy, you are considering hurting yourself or someone else, are having feelings of worthlessness or hopelessness, or your persistent sadness interferes with usual activities and ability to carry out your normal roles, you may be experiencing clinical depression. Please contact a professional immediately.

Reference: Huber, Cheri. (2000). Suffering is Optional: Three Keys to Freedom and Joy. Murphys, CA: Keep it Simple Books.

Photo Credit: Rubberman

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Categories: Managing Emotions

Managing the Emotional Rollercoaster of Cancer Part 2: Being Your Own Best Friend

March 9, 2012 Posted by Dawn

(This is the second of three articles of a series.)

In Managing the Emotional Rollercoaster of Cancer Part 1, I talked about how you can “ride the waves” of emotions you experience during your cancer journey. I also talked about how naming your feelings, recognizing that they won’t last forever, and acknowledging that you have handled those feelings before can be helpful in managing the emotional ups and downs throughout the cancer experience. A big part of managing the emotional rollercoaster is to pay attention to what you’re feeling, to notice wear you’re at, without judging yourself. I’m going to talk more about that piece in this article.

When we pay attention, when we take a close look at what our feelings are doing, we are cultivating the “observer” in us. We are accepting the feeling at the same time as observing it. In a way, we are allowing ourselves to feel the emotion without fully identifying with it. In other words, we are acknowledging that our feeling is not us…the feeling does not say anything about who we are.

We are allowing an emotion to surface, feeling it, and letting it pass, without thinking that it means anything in particular about us. We are feeling it while realizing that we are not going to be there forever and we are acknowledging that just because we are having a particular feeling doesn’t mean that we’re crazy or weak or any of the other negative judgments we often put on ourselves. The “observer” in us who is seeing and recognizing all of this doesn’t judge.

This observer inside us can become a mentor…the mentor we always wanted. This “inner mentor” sees what is happening with us. She or he can tell us what we always wanted to hear…like “You can handle this…you’ve handled it before, and you are strong and resilient.” This inner mentor can see the bigger picture and can treat us like a best friend.

This best friend/mentor concept can feel foreign to us. We would never tell someone else the things we sometimes tell ourselves. Ask yourself, would I tell my best friend to snap out of it? That if she just tried to have a more positive attitude, she’d be fine? That there’s something wrong with her for having these feelings? That she’s weak or crazy? No…you would ask her what’s going on and listen carefully. Then you would be as nice to her as you could. Right?

We can do the same thing for ourselves. We can ask ourselves what’s going on and then write out our thoughts and feelings in a journal. We can ask ourselves questions, like “What led up to me feeling this way?” or “What is this sadness/anger/fear all about?” We can write until we feel finished and then “listen carefully” to what we have said…we look back on what we have written and notice what is going on inside us.

There are probably some good reasons for feeling the way we do…our feelings probably make sense, given the circumstances, and our mentor/best friend can tell us so. Then we can be as nice to ourselves as possible while we are feeling badly.

In summary, instead of trying to fight our feelings we can give ourselves permission to feel our feelings and withhold our judgment of our feelings and of ourselves. We can remember to “ride the waves” and remind ourselves that the difficult feelings are only part of the journey. We can cultivate the observer within us, and let him or her become our “inner mentor,” telling us what we need to hear and treating us like a best friend.

I know from my personal experience with cancer, that once I started using these strategies, things got a lot easier and some of the unnecessary suffering that can be part of the cancer experience was reduced significantly. In fact, some of the strategies I learned and used during my cancer journey have served me well in my “life after cancer.” I hope they will serve you too.

**Note: If you find that you are feeling sad all the time and it doesn’t lift, you’ve lost the feeling of enjoyment when doing things you used to enjoy, you are considering hurting yourself or someone else, are having feelings of worthlessness or hopelessness, or your persistent sadness interferes with usual activities and ability to carry out your normal roles, you may be experiencing clinical depression. Please contact a professional immediately.

Photo Credit: Rakeem Cunningham

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Tags: "coping with cancer", Cancer articles, Cancer blogs., cancer coping, Cancer emotional support, Cancer emotions, Cancer help, Cancer resources, Cancer support, Cancer support services, Cancer websites, Cope with cancer, Coping cancer, Coping with cancer diagnosis, Dealing with cancer, emotions and cancer, Help for people with cancer, How to cope with cancer diagnosis, Living with cancer, Support of cancer
Categories: Managing Emotions

Managing the Emotional Rollercoaster of Cancer Part 1: Riding the Waves

February 24, 2012 Posted by Dawn

(This is the first of three articles of a series.)

As you know, most people have emotional ups and downs throughout the cancer experience. As you probably also know, this is normal. While depression and anxiety can be direct or indirect side effects of some medications that are prescribed to cancer patients, most of the feelings you experience are caused simply by the crisis of a cancer diagnosis. Cancer is scary, angering, and saddening. Having these feelings when you have cancer is natural and part of being human.

However, sometimes the intensity of these emotions scares us, along with the fact that they can seem to change very quickly. It can feel like our feelings are “all over the place”…we can swing from sadness to anger to frustration to fear all within one day, or even within a few hours! Because of the intensity and the “swinging” nature of these feelings, it can sometimes feel like we’re “going crazy.” But we’re not…this “emotional rollercoaster” can be said to be a “normal response to an abnormal situation.”

One thing to remember is that feelings will come and go. Henry Ward Beecher said, “No emotion, no more than a wave, can long retain its own individual form.” Know that when you are on the couch and you feel that you can not get up, that you will not always feel that way. Try your best to remind yourself that the feeling will pass. Often when we fight the feeling, trying to “think positively” when we are feeling miserable, the feeling stays for longer than it needs to. It’s not the feeling in and of itself that is bad, but the label or judgment we put on it. We tell ourselves, “I should be more positive,” “I shouldn’t be feeling this way; it could be worse.” Or we judge ourselves as wrong or bad for feeling down. The judgment makes the experience more painful than it needs to be. If we just let ourselves feel down–sad, exhausted, “beaten up,” or whatever–and know that we can handle it and come up on the other side, it can be easier.

My own counselor said the most helpful words to me when I was having emotional ups and downs during my cancer journey. She said, “Ride the waves.” I practiced this and it helped so much. When I was feeling really down (and on the couch and couldn’t get up) I would say to myself, “Yup…this is the bottom of the wave. I am really down.” In acknowledging that, it helped me to realize that I wouldn’t be there forever. It helped me to stop judging myself and thinking, “There’s something wrong with me.” No…there was nothing wrong with me and I wasn’t “crazy,” I was just feeling really down.

This helped me to not take it so seriously. It helped me to say, “So I am down…so what? I have been down before and I have handled it.” Then, lo and behold, the feeling would pass eventually and I could get off the couch again. I would often think to myself, “Hmmm…I feel fine, I wonder what that was all about.” After this happened a bunch of times, I realized that yes, indeed, the feelings do pass…even the worst ones. After I was at the bottom of the wave, I would eventually come to the top.

Sometimes just naming the feeling gave me a sense of relief. I would just try to pay attention to what I was feeling, to notice where I was at, without judgment. Thinking of the analogy of riding the waves, as though I was on a float, helped me to remember that the bottom was just one part of the wave, not the whole thing.

Photo credit: groovyholly

Cancer Sucks

January 23, 2012 Posted by Dawn

So my business coach recently convinced me it was really OK to call my free eworkbook, 10 Ways to Make Cancer Suck Less. The former name of the eworkbook was 10 Ways to Reduce Unnecessary Suffering During Your Cancer Journey. Uh huh…too long, I know.

I was telling my coach that the title of the workbook is really important to me…I want to convey exactly what I’m offering in the workbook. I would feel insincere giving it a title that suggested it would offer something to make cancer better. I mean, let’s face it…there is nothing I can do that is going to make cancer easy for people, to make them have peace of mind during cancer treatment, or to make cancer effortless, painless, or trouble-free. I said to her, “Cancer sucks. I can’t make it not suck, but I can help make it suck less.”

And that is basically what the workbook offers…ways to make cancer suck less. The idea is to help people manage the problems that are often “piled on top” of cancer, and to manage the difficult emotions that accompany the cancer journey. That’s when the idea for the new name for the workbook came into being, at which point I said, “Can I really call it that? Can I really say ‘suck’ in a title?” and she said, “I would!”

Then we talked about how, as an every-day person, I’m much more “human” (or maybe even “edgy”) than how I portray myself as a counselor/therapist. As a counselor, I sometimes use big words. As a human being, I sometimes use bad words. As a counselor, I say “appropriate” things; as a human being, I sometimes say (and laugh at) inappropriate things. As a counselor, I talk about how to do the “right” things for yourself; as a human I sometimes do the wrong things, then try to learn from them.

I realized that somehow my personality has gotten squelched a bit in the process of trying to be “professional” in how I convey myself to the world as a therapist. I used to think that was necessary in order for people to see me a certain way and trust that I could help them. Now I’m realizing that I need to be more authentic in my work, which means that my personality will come through in my “professional” stuff and in my “marketing,” whatever that may entail.

I will, of course, always keep appropriate boundaries for my profession, but allow the more “human” side to come through. I want to de-mystify therapy and therapists. I will need to share my stories and the things I’ve learned (sometimes from mistakes), and I’m hoping people will come to trust me because I’m being more authentic, and not pretending that therapists/counselors are somehow un-human, as is sometimes conveyed in TV shows and movies.

So yes, I use the word “suck” in my daily life, as well as a few other choice words from time to time, especially when it comes to cancer. And while saying the word “sucks” in my material might offend some, I’m thinking that most people will agree that cancer sucks. As I wrote in my eworkbook introduction, “Sometimes there isn’t any other way to explain it, or another, more sophisticated verb that fits better.” Those who don’t think that cancer sucks have probably not had cancer.

I’m hoping that what I write in my newsletter and blog will help you, even in some small way, to make cancer suck less. And I hope you’ll let me know what types of information you need or questions you have toward that end.

Photo Credit: Michigan Tech Camera Club

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Categories: Counseling





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Coping With Cancer

A Blog for People Affected by Cancer–tips, strategies, and inspiration for managing the cancer journey