• Anniversaries of your diagnosis and cancer treatments can present a reason to celebrate survivorship. You may enjoy acknowledging and celebrating major milestones. Some people affected by cancer also say that anniversaries can remind them of both the triumphs and difficulties related to their journey.

Regardless of your specifics, your relationship with your own cancer experience and survivorship will evolve.

The transitions of our lives, and those around cancer, sometimes present challenges we wish to avoid. Whatever the situation, there is always help available and hope on the horizon.

Recurrences

“How can this be happening to me again? Haven’t I been through enough?”

A recurrence is cancer that has come back after it has been treated and there was no cancer detected in your body. A recurrence can happen in the same place where the cancer first began or it can come back in a different part of the body.

Whatever you feel, want, and need, honor this process.

People experience so many emotions when they find out that their cancer has come back. Starting cancer treatment again can place even more demands on your mind and spirit. You'll have good days and bad days. So just remember that it's okay to feel a lot of different emotions.

Some of these emotions may be ones you have had at other times in your life. But you may be feeling them more intensely.

If you have dealt with them in the past, you may be able to cope with them now, too. If some of the feelings are new, or are so strong that it is hard to get through everyday activities, you may want to ask for help.

Possible New Treatment Options

Cancer survivors confronting a recurrence are more experienced the second time around. Use this knowledge to your advantage.

Try to remember what you did before to cope. Reflect on what you might have done differently. By looking back in this way, the hope is that you may find new strength, and this strength can help carry you through each day, and through the coming weeks and months.

Cancer that returns can affect all parts of your life. You may feel weak and no longer in control. But you don't have to feel that way. You can take part in your care and in making decisions. You can also talk with your health care team and loved ones as you make decisions about your care. This may help you feel a sense of control and well-being.

For More Information:

• National Cancer Institute
• Booklet “When Cancer Returns”
• American Cancer Society
• Lance Armstrong Foundation
• People Living with Cancer
• Cancer Care

End of Life

A cancer diagnosis is not a death sentence. However, not everyone survives their disease.

Everyone dies, and some people die of cancer. This may sound crude. It is not meant to. The simple reality is that death is a part of life.

When a patient’s health care team determines that the cancer can no longer be controlled, medical testing and cancer treatment often stop.

The time at the end of life is different for each person. Each individual has unique needs for information and support. The patient’s and family’s questions and concerns about the end of life should be discussed with the health care team as they arise.

Patients and their family members often want to know how long a person is expected to live. This is a hard question to answer.

Factors that play a role

• Where the cancer is located
• Other illnesses the patient may have that can affect what will happen.

Although doctors may be able to make an estimate based on what they know about the patient, they might be hesitant to do so. Doctors may be concerned about over- or under-estimating the patient’s life span. They also might be fearful of instilling false hope or destroying a person’s hope.

Everyone has different needs, but some emotions are common to most dying patients. These include fear of abandonment and fear of being a burden. They also have concerns about loss of dignity and loss of control.

Some ways caregivers can provide comfort include the following: