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Colorectal Cancer: Post Treatment 0-6 Months: Emotional Well Being: Stages II,III,IV

Expect A Mix of Emotions

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Challenges don't end just because a treatment does. Although the acute phase has ended, a new set of challenges appears as you move from treatment to recovery mode.

  • It is not unusual to feel abandoned and to grieve the withdrawal of the safety net which was provided by constant contact with the treatment team and with your caregivers who have returned to their lives. In fact, you may even be impatient with family and friends who expect you to be back to normal the moment treatment ends (or at least somewhat soon after the end of treatment).
  • It is common to feel anxiety about whether your colorectal cancer will come back. This is known as "fear of recurrence." It is also known as the "Damocles Syndrome" because of a feeling that there is a sword hung by a thin string over your head just like Damocles. This is particularly to be expected when a medical checkup is scheduled or you get physical symptoms such as a cold.
  • Tears may flow at unexpected times for no apparent reason. Sadness and depression are not unusual. Neither is anger about having cancer.
  • People who have survived treatment with relatively few side effects have also reported feeling guilt - especially people who were close to other people who had a difficult time with the same treatment or who died.
  • Some people start doubting whether they took the right treatment or whether it was worth it. Refocusing on the present and doing what you can to make the future better is an antidote to this kind of thinking.
  • It is not unusual to feel out of place or alone in a world of healthy people, particularly if you have an ostomy. It is likely that colorectal cancer caused you to look at death, perhaps for the first time. The experience likely changed your perspective and what is important to you.
    • People can be off putting in what they say about your cancer experience.
    • Everyday topics may bore you. What other people see as problems may be trivial to you.
    • It is likely that colorectal cancer caused you to look at death, perhaps for the first time. The experience likely changed your perspective and what is important to you.
  • People don't give you room to recover. Family and friends expect you to be joyful and happy about finishing treatment. They expect you to be back to the same person you were before your diagnosis.
  • The prospect of each doctor’s appointment and test can bring up major anxiety.
  • It is easy to feel overwhelmed by the return of all the life, relationship and financial problems that were put on hold because of your focus on your illness.
  • Some people even experience Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

Just as it takes time to heal physically after treatment, it may take even longer to heal emotionally. The esteemed psycho-oncologist Dr. Julia Rowland suggests that, as a general rule of thumb, it will take at least as long to heal emotionally as the period of time from when you were first diagnosed until the end of treatment. It may even take longer.

Will you ever feel "normal" again? Yes. In fact, many people report that their lives feel even more full after living through cancer treatment because of a new value on each moment.

For information about the emotions and feelings that may surface, and what to do about each of them, see the documents in “To Learn More.”


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