Anxiety is a big thing for everybody
going through cancer.
Cancer related anxiety for me was that little voice in
the back of your head that anytime
something feels slightly different in
your body you wonder what it is.
The brain just gives up and goes from 'Ok,
I'm feeling a little sick' to 'oh, it's back' or
or, ;it's spreading faster'. And it's always there.
I know that the anxiety is not helping.
It's not helping with the fear, it's not
changing any of the outcomes.
It's just something that I do.
I didn't cope with it at the beginning. I was
very much put your head in the sand and
hopefully everything will go away.
I've recently done the mindfulness course.
It's giving me things to go away with
and I've learned to just sort of stop,
close my eyes and focus on breathing for
2, or 3 minutes at a time, let my body calm
down and then move on.
I joined what they call the breast
cancer support group and it was great it.
It was really a lifesaver.
And I would really recommend it.
Having a sense of humor is massive for me,
because partly I've got to be able to
look at myself and laugh at some of the
craziness around all this
Another thing that really helped us with
anxiety and just the stresses of dealing
with cancer for sure is not talking
about cancer. I think from the moment
you're diagnosed with cancer that
C-word is all you're dealing with at
all times and its really nice sometimes
to take a break and be like, 'hey today
we're going to concert, we're going to a
restaurant we're going to do whatever
but we're not once going to talk about a
treatment plan, or did you take your meds
or this and that.' And I think it's about
making that person feel human again.
Which was one of the biggest things that
I realized
I'm trying to sort of just calm myself
down by deep breathing, guided meditation.
I find that extremely helpful.
It's ok to worry. You don't have to shoo it away.
Just take a look at what it is you're worried
about and find, whether it's a
psychologist, a psychiatrist, a really
good friend - Somebody you can say, 'Okay,
this is the way I'm feeling right now.'
And they'll let you talk without
having them say oh ,'it's ok, it's ok, it's ok.'
When people let me talk about being
scared, being anxious, being worried, then
it tends to go away.
One piece of advice that I do have is
that time time fixes a lot of things.
Over time everything that's going on
around us, all the treatments, all the
appointments all the seeing other
people, it does get easier and that
anxiety does get reduced.The first time
I left the Odette Center after I was
told that I had cancer and I thought I
will never, like, I will never feel okay again.
And I did. You know. It felt like some
sort of a weird kind of home.