A Cancer Survivor's Guide To Avoid Becoming A Hypochondriac
You had cancer, and now you don't, or it's being managed with the right medications. You wake up to a strange rash or new pain. Do you instantly panic and assume it has to be something serious? Because, I mean, you've had cancer, so it's not like you're in the ninety-ninth percentile of people who get the weird symptom, and it turns out to be nothing. It would be easy and quite understandable for you to turn a bug bite into lymphoma in your mind. So, how do you keep from making a mountain out of a molehill?
There are so many lingering side effects after cancer. The hot flashes, the itchiness all over, and, well, the worrying that it's all happening again. It's completely normal to fear that your health is failing again when it let you down in such a grand way in the past. But after a while, if you don't work to let some of the fear go, it can consume you, and that is how cancer wins. I want to make it clear that I am no expert on this matter or any of the other topics I cover in this blog. I am simply a human who has lived this and needs to be reminded, just like every other survivor, that not every new ache and pain is cancer, and spending the rest of my days worrying that it is, isn't the kind of fulfilling life I want to live. Don't get me wrong, I have sent my best friend, a Nurse Practitioner, more photos of wounds, rashes, and drainage than I'm sure she would care to see while off the clock, and I always contact my doctor if a new symptom lingers, but I actively try to do so without making any drastic assumptions.
When I feel a bit out of control of my emotions, and my mind starts to wander to dark, unhealthy places, that's when it's time to put in the work and use all the resources I have gained over the last nine years.
1-This blog. A safe place to spill my feelings into written words and unload the often heavy weight of disability, survivorship, and being a human on this vast, chaotic, spinning blob we call Earth.
2- My family. The unwavering group of people who have seen me at my lowest of lows and held my hand while they cried with me. They are always willing to learn about what I go through and how to support me better while also understanding that they will never fully understand what this is like.
3-Therapy. Being able to open up to someone whose sole job is not to pass judgment, be biased, or be hurt by your honesty, is priceless. You'll know you are using this resource correctly when you say things to your therapist you've never said out loud before.
4-My Community. The friends I've made along this journey know what it's like to struggle after surviving but simultaneously be eternally grateful to be cancer-free. The safest place to vent about all things cancer and limb loss.
There are so many people out there that need help because of what cancer took away. I would love to make this an open conversation. If there is something that has helped you, please share it in the comment section. Let's help each other get through the rough spots.
