How to Live with Cancer

Being diagnosed with cancer is always going to be a shock, but it doesn’t have to lead to despair and surrender. In fact, there are many ways for people to live close to their regular lives with cancer once they take control and work out how their own future will work for them. These few ideas are just a start to help you if you have to live with cancer.

Take Time For Yourself

Being told you have cancer is a mind-blowing moment. Your head will be spinning, and you’ll have too many questions to even begin to articulate. Take the leaflets and the advice from the doctor, and then get out of their office and take some time for yourself. We know that is easier said than done sometimes, particularly if you have a family at home, but do try. Even if it’s just locking yourself in your room, or soaking in a deep, hot bath for an hour. You need to calm down, to put your head back on straight, and to formulate a plan. In order to beat cancer, you need to own it, and you need to fight it. It’s a war, and wars need strategies.

Deal with the Symptoms

Your doctor will be able to help you when it comes to treatment for your cancer, and will be able to talk to you about chemotherapy and radiotherapy, which are often the best ways to combat this disease. The symptoms for each type of cancer will vary, depending on where it is and what it is affecting, and although the chemo and radiotherapy will help to shrink the tumor so that it can be surgically removed, or even get rid of it altogether, the symptoms can be problematic. Look at ways of dealing with how you’ll be feeling as there are a number of different methods out there these days, such as getting a medical marijuana delivery. This can help to alleviate some of the symptoms while you’re getting treated by your medical professional.  There are also things that can help make you feel better like ginger for stomach issues, some herbal teas, heavy creams for dry skin, and mouthwashes for dry mouth. Some people have even tried acupuncture.

Lifestyle Changes

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Changing some things about your lifestyle – specifically, what you eat, what you drink, and how much you exercise – can help you to fight cancer, and to heal well once you are done with the doctor's protocols. You can’t control the disease as such, but you can control what actions you do and what you put in your body, so concentrate on that and you will feel much better for it. Making these changes is good for your health, and the health of your family, and they will also give you something to focus on when you are feeling down.

Allow Yourself to Grieve

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It’s important that you give yourself time to process the information you have been given, but it’s also important to give yourself time to grieve for the life you had before your diagnosis. Everything has now changed, and that’s scary, and you’ll miss doing certain things and you’ll worry about other things, and it’s all going to be whirling around your head. If you don’t allow yourself this time to ‘let it all out’, you’ll risk making yourself ill with anxiety, depression, and other psychological problems.

Have A Support Network

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You may find that you feel much better about everything when you have a good support network around you. This could be friends and family who are willing to listen to you when you are having a bad day, as well as when you are feeling on top of the world. Or it could be a group of complete strangers at a support meeting – people going through the same thing as you. 

Also, don't be afraid to let friends help.  Your friends will want to help you in different ways, from watching your kids, to cooking dinner, taking you to appointments and cleaning your house.  Don't say "no."  Accept their help.  There is no one size fits all solution to what is going to make you feel better, so it’s up to you to try a few things to find the one that suits you best.

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