Life After Liver Cancer
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Resuming life after completing cancer treatment can be a difficult and transformative experience. You might still feel the lingering effects of treatment and find it challenging to adjust to this new stage of your journey.
You might find yourself worrying if a twinge means something else, or if your results are going to return with bad news. Here are three things to focus on when moving forward:
1. Practicing mindfulness
Meditation is one way to get back in touch with your body. It doesn’t mean ignoring your fears or thinking only happy thoughts. It’s simply accepting the thoughts you have and how you feel in the present moment. When dealing with nagging worries or anxious thoughts that keep coming back, a mindfulness practice can help you learn to sit with these difficult feelings. There shouldn’t be pressure to eliminate all negative thoughts. Instead, it should help you feel comfortable with feeling and acknowledging your worry and stress.
Free meditation resources are available from:
2. Do small things that you enjoy, regularly
Who makes you feel good about yourself? What makes you feel at least 10% better? It can be something small, like pulling up your favorite TV episode or making some comfort food. Try to make a habit out of reaching out to people who support you fully, and find 1 to 2 small things to do that make you just a bit happier each day. Keeping connected with others and discovering new shared interests actually helps improve your health, as well as providing a sense of support.
If you have support organizations based near you or online, perhaps try dropping them a message to find others on the same path as you. Opening up your circle can be intimidating, but discovering people who understand what you feel can make things feel more manageable.
3. Don’t feel pressured to return to normal
Excessive positivity isn’t what you need to feel better. You might feel like you’re supposed to be “happier” or to feel that the burden has been lifted completely. Still, the fear of recurrence is likely to remain. Suppressing what you feel or blaming yourself can backfire, leading to poorer physical and mental health instead. Take the time to accept where you are, at your own pace. If things seem overwhelming, seeking help from a licensed counselor or a psychologist specializing in cancer patient support could help you cope better.
These methods may not change everything, but they can help you manage the distress that accompanies years of handling follow-ups and tests.
If you are looking for others who are in the same position as you, find more stories and words of wisdom about how to deal with the fear of cancer and recurrence in our collection.