Chemotherapy is about YOU! (Chemo Survival Guide Part 2)
Photo by limowreck666 via Flickr. (Creative Commons. Some rights retained by author)
If there is ever a time when being a bit selfish is probably a good idea, it is during chemotherapy. Chemotherapy (and this also applies to radiotherapy) is about YOU. What I want to emphasize by this is that getting treated for cancer can be a very difficult process and it’s important that you as a patient focus on yourself primarily during this time. While this is a time that is particularly difficult to those around you, making yourself responsible for the feelings of those around you will only make things more difficult for you. While there are probably a few exceptions to this, I believe a chemo patient should not worry about others around until he or she has dealt with his or her own issues.
Of course, there are different stages during chemotherapy that have different impacts on how a patient feels both emotionally and psychologically. There are also different stages/moods in how a patient may be dealing with a disease (e.g. denial, preoccupation, giving up). However, regardless of differences in chemotherapy symptoms or stages, I am referring to how a patient must deal with the treatment’s difficulties when the times are rough. Chemotherapy is not only a difficult process because of the medicines that are administered, but also because of the financial burden that the disease can cause in some families, the preoccupation with the possibility of death, watching a loved one suffer, and other such things. As a result, your spouse, kids, other family members, and even friends may develop difficulty issues all of their own as they try to cope with your illness. While they may seek your help during difficult times, it’s important that you keep your focus on yourself. Remember, in any fight for survival, you are the most important element. You need to deal with your issues first and possibly ignore others needs altogether until a time when you can actually be more helpful. Trying to help others at this time may simply add more things for you to worry and, as patients with some of the effects of “chemo-brain” know, you don’t need extra things to worry about. You need to prepare for this before you get too far into chemo because some patients get so negative during treatment that the extra worrying may be the final straw they need to refuse treatment and give up all together.
If other people need help, then let them seek it on their own. There are countless professionals out there waiting to help, hundreds of self-help books such as the ones that appear on the Amazon.com advertisements on these pages, and other friends and family members that may be ready to lend a hand. Remember, this is a life and death issue and your survival matters. You can deal with the effects of cancer on others as soon as you are done with treatment. Sure, you can’t really ignore your spouse or kids completely, but other family members and friends can definitely wait. At least that is my opinion from talking to and watching others go through chemotherapy. What does everyone else think?
The next chapter in the Chemotherapy Survival Guide will be Thursday.
The previous post on the Chemotherapy Survival Guide:
NEXT POST IN THE SERIES —-> HERE.
