So here we go
Imagine, for a moment, that your progress through life is like being on a small boat.
For most of the time you sail along weathering both the expected and unanticipated storms that occur in every life. Then, all of a sudden and without warning, the most horrendous storm blows up – much worse than any you have experienced before and completely unexpectedly.
Your boat is tossed all over the place, you are lashed by rain and wind, the waves crash about you, their size obliterating the horizon and restricting your vision to the immediate surroundings. You fear for your life and hang on to whatever is to hand to stop yourself from being washed overboard.
This rather dramatic narrative attempts to put into words what the experience of being diagnosed and treated for cancer might be like for some of you. Whilst not everyone goes through it in this way, the enormous upheaval and threat that many people report seems to be echoed in that brief description.
But, like treatment, the turmoil subsides and there is the beginning of the calm after the storm. You look around at your boat, battered and damaged though it is, and it is still afloat.
There is a need to repair and mend those bits that have been broken or damaged. Some items may be lost, washed overboard and you will have to find ways of proceeding in spite of these losses. Once you have looked over the boat, you gingerly look out to sea. But instead of a clear blue ocean and cloudless sky you see little but mist and fog. Your sea charts have been lost in the storm. You are not really sure of your position, whether you are in the same place as before, pointing in the same direction. You may also wonder whether you want to go on along the same path as before.
The sea, though calmer, is still unsettled and your world feels unstable under your feet. Thoughts of where to go, what next, how to get help assault you and add to your worry and uncertainty.
This may be what it feels like for you when your treatment ends. Still reeling from the physical, emotional and practical demands of treatment you are left contemplating an uncertain and possibly frightening future. The end of treatment may be one of the most difficult and complex times for you.
It may make demands on you that you could not imagine whilst you were undergoing treatment. And it may be the time when you feel the most in need of support but least able to ask for it and when it seems least available.
Dr Jane Clark, Consultant Clinical Psychologist ©️ 2023 Jane Clark and Peter Harvey. All rights reserved.
The information and content provided on this page is intended for information and educational purposes only and is not intended to substitute for professional medical advice.