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As a young adult with cancer or just completing
your therapy with cancer, it is totally normal for you to be anxious about that.
And to be anxious at multiple times during your life and at multiple times during the year.
There are certain things that will trigger it and things that you really don't expect
will cause this flood of memories to come back and to increase your stress.
But that's totally normal.
There are certain periods that you can anticipate and knowing that there are high-stress times,
particularly when you get your scans or when you have a re-evaluation every three months
or six months and you have to come back to our office.
That will cause high stress.
Waiting to get the results of the scans will be stressful to you.
Having a friend diagnosed with cancer can just unleash a whole flood of anxiety.
As well as certain anniversary points or holidays while you were getting therapy, and this is
totally normal.
So realizing that those times can be stressful is part of the way that you will handle or
cope with these issues.
Everyone has these feelings of their cancer's going to come back.
And everyone deals with them in different ways.
And you will have to find out what works for you.
But there are multiple options.
It may be talking to a close friend, or confiding in them to a family member.
Some young cancer survivors feel that it's very helpful to be in a support group where
it's just not a one-on-one conversation, but multiple other individuals in the same age
group that have had similar experience.
In general, the further you get from your diagnosis the more energetic and less fearful you'll be.
But some people have so much fear, and so much anxiety that it gets in the way of their
enjoying life.
There are treatments for that.
Those treatments could include counseling.
They could include medications.
And often they help people find the light at the end of the tunnel.
So don't let yourself get too down about these things before reaching out and asking for
help.
There is help out there that's effective.
It's good to talk about how your cancer can come back.
What symptoms you should be aware of, what you should be looking for, what should alarm
you, what should cause you to call your doctor, and what symptoms are totally normal.
And having a discussion about the times that you're most likely to develop the-- that the
tumor can come back is important too, because you'll gradually be able to come to grips
with it, and your anxiety will slowly decrease.
Following up after you've had cancer is really important.
Part of the mission of that is to return you to the health that you had before you started
this journey.
The other is that if cancer is going to come back, catching it early, before it causes
symptoms, is really important.
It gives us a better chance of better outcomes than if we wait until things are quite advanced.
So even though you may want to flee the cancer world, it's important to stay in touch with
your doctor.
Also, people who have had cancer sometimes will have long-term changes in their health
that the doctor will be able to pick up on and help you manage.
But it's important for you to be a advocate for yourself, and to know what the followup
is involved.
Knowing what kind of followup you'll have for the rest of your life.
And to know what it's really important, even if you relocate to another area, what information
you need to have to continue to take good care of yourself.
One of the things is to ask for a complete record of the therapy that you received.
And that can be done in a written form or electronically.
And you should have that with you, or have access to it if you're traveling, in case
there would be an emergency, you would end up in the emergency room.
Or, if you move, it's crucial to have this.
And all of this goes together as being a advocate for yourself.
And making sure you know what has happened to you in your treatment for cancer.
And that will help you in moving forward to get the best care and to take care of yourself.
In addition, it's important for you to have a healthy lifestyle.
We know with cancer survivors that there's a increased risk of chronic health problems.
And one of the ways we're trying to circumvent that is by making sure that you're educated,
to make sure that you have a healthy diet, and that you have some regular form of activity
incorporated into your daily lifestyle.
Those are all things that you can do to help yourself stay healthy.
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