Cancer Diagnosis
In many cases the initial diagnosis of cancer is a total surprise to the patient and family. Some symptom or unusual spot on a scan shows up during a routine examination or you go into the emergency room or doctor’s office with a pain or unusual feeling. In some instances your primary doctor is not sure of the finding and you are sent to other doctors or an oncologist. If you are sent to an oncologist your mind begins to race with all of the potential bad scenarios that could follow.
The initial diagnosis is like an earthquake. It is shocking and all sorts of questions come into your head. It feels like the earth is shaking and our knees are buckling. It may feel like the floor is falling out from under us and the walls are crashing down around us. Your life you knew and trusted has been so radically altered that it may feel like nothing will ever feel safe again.
After the initial earthquake stops there can be many aftershocks. Aftershocks can include calls to share the diagnosis, decisions that must be made about treatment, medical tests, reactions from friends, loss of job, financial issues and change of your normal routines. Aftershocks can also occur when friends are diagnosed with cancer, family events or holidays happen, quarterly or semiannual scans are performed, friends or family die from cancer, you think about your former life or your original diagnosis, newspaper or internet articles identify people that have been diagnosed with your type of cancer, or any number of thoughts or events occur. The causes of aftershocks will vary from patient to patient and none of them are wrong or uncommon. Just like when earthquake aftershocks occur the aftershocks can vary in magnitude. Some may just cause you to feel sad for a short period and others may bring on depression for days.
As a patient you realize you are now living on a fault line. We often become acutely aware of the new fault line that we live on during the first year. Various feelings can on occur on physical, emotional and spiritual levels. Physically we may have trouble sleeping or eating or getting out of bed. Treatments can leave you tired and physically unable to perform your normal routine. Just remember that is okay and you should do what you feel like doing and not what others expect you to do after treatment. Emotionally you may suddenly start crying or feel depressed and sometimes you are really not sure what brings on the emotions. Maybe we feel our loss on the spiritual level. We may question our beliefs initially and move toward our religion to help us handle the new normal.