A Long Road Back to Normal

When After Cancer: A Guide to Your New Life was first published in 1995, the issues of life after cancer were not on many people's radar. Back then, mainstream survivorship was focused on helping patients deal in healthy ways with a diagnosis, evaluation and treatment.

I'm happy to say, we've come a long way. Notions of post-treatment problems, challenges and losses are part of the everyday language of survivorship both in and out of cancer communities.

I'm also happy to say that mainstream media is delving into issues of post-treatment life, which not only helps patients but also helps patients' friends, family and colleagues manage their expectations and nourish hope of a better tomorrow.

USA Today blended a human interest story with a useful overview in a story about Elissa Bantug's efforts to get back to normal after treatment for breast cancer. "'We do a really good job of removing the disease but are not really good at getting people well,' says Bantug, who now coordinates the Johns Hopkins Breast Cancer Survivorship Program in Baltimore, part of a national effort to address cancer survivors' long-term needs."

The article mentions the value of rehab and offers some theories under study for some of the problems, like persistent fatigue and difficulty multitasking.  

As is usually the case with such stories in the media, Bantug's ordeal has a storybook ending. Sadly, that's not the case for many survivors. Still, the story serves a useful function, educating the public about post-treatment life.

Comments

[Rosalyn Zakheim]

Are you going to update your book After Cancer?

[Wendy S. Harpham, MD]

Roz,
I don't know. Publishing has changed drastically since HarperCollins published my second book, After Cancer. With so much information on post-treatment recovery available online and in disease-specific books, publishers are less willing to invest in a general guidebook on life after cancer. Despite the pub date, most of the information in After Cancer is still relevant because my focus is an approach to life after cancer (and not the details of tests and treatments).

My writing has always tended to grapple with issues not easily available online. Right now, my writing for clinicians is focused on preserving compassion in modern medicine. My writing for patients continues to be focused on the three steps to Healthy Survivorship, but taken from new angles than in my earlier writings.

In particular, I'm exploring and writing about how to get the most from your healthcare team, how to find and nourish hope, and how to narrow the gap between knowing what to do and actually doing it.

Thanks for asking. With hope, Wendy

[Andrea Gauthier]

My first cancer diagnosis having come in 1967, I remember well finding Carl Simonton's book in the early 80s. It gave me an approach I could borrow from as a guide. When I found your book, Happiness in a Storm, I had a similar response, the voice of someone coming from the same background of experience as I, but with the medical knowledge to assess situations and the confidence to put forward well-considered viewpoints. Without these and several others, I was out there on my own, trying to reclaim a future. That is why your repeated use of the word 'hope' is so appropriate. There is always something to maintain hope for.