Your life will never be the same. Once you hear the “C” word, your life immediately changes and you begin a new journey. Along the road to save your life you will experience a flood of emotions. In fact, the emotional side of cancer will be with you long after your last cancer treatment. How can you cope with these emotions?
Skin cancer can affect how you see yourself, your day to day activities, and even your wardrobe. In addition to being confused over the diagnosis, you will be flooded with emotions and worry. One of the most difficult tasks is to stay positive and keep up hope once you are diagnosed with skin cancer.
The Physical Side of Skin Cancer
Skin cancer is the abnormal growth of skin cells that usually develops on skin that has been exposed to the sun. There are three major types of skin cancer – basal cell carcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma, and melanoma.1 Basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma are the two less serious forms of skin cancer. Melanoma is the most serious form.2 However, they can all be equally emotionally debilitating and leave deep emotional and physical scars.
Skin cancer can occur on the face or the body. Many of the treatment methods to remove cancerous skin lesions and moles can result in scarring and other disfigurement. At the conclusion of treatment for skin cancer you may not look the same – this can be radical when skin cancer is found on the face.
This potential change in appearance is one of the things that make skin cancer so incredibly emotional. Skin cancer normally occurs in places where it is visible, most likely the face. Major changes to a person’s appearance, sometimes negative changes, are not welcome. However, these changes are life saving.
There are numerous ways help you cover these scars while you are going through treatment and beyond. Cosmetic surgeons are adept at working with skin cancer patients. In many cases, all that is needed are a few new makeup tips.
Keep on top of your skin cancer and its progression. The stage of skin cancer is relevant to how treatable the skin cancer is – early stages of skin cancer are treated with great success while later stages have less chance of positive conclusion.3 By staying aware of the progression of your skin cancer you will be easing the emotional side of skin cancer.
The Emotions: Express Them
It would be unnatural to expect you to have no emotions about a skin cancer diagnosis. In fact, doctors, nurses, and other cancer specialists are aware that you will be facing a deluge of mixed emotions during the diagnosis stage and during treatments. They encourage you to ask questions and become your biggest advocate. They want you to express your feelings.
There are several excellent ways to cope with what you are feeling:
- Keep informed. Do your homework. Know the specifics of your disease, your prognosis, and other information such as the stage of cancer.4
- Do not isolate. Keep in contact with the outside world. Talk about your fears and feelings with your doctor, your friends, and family members.
- Keep a positive attitude. It really is contagious! You can find the good side of every situation. How well is treatment going? Are you feeling better today?
- Stress relief. It is impossible to avoid stress. Try to lessen the things in your life that cause you stress. Ask for help when you need it.
- Get healthy. Take this opportunity to exercise and eat right. Both exercise and a proper diet will give your body strength to fight skin cancer and energy to withstand treatments.
- Acknowledge physical changes. Do not obsess about these changes and realize that there are methods to alleviate damage caused by scarring.
Support
Many skin cancer patients seek support outside their network of friends and family. Even a skin cancer patient with a large a caring support network will benefit from seeing a counselor to talk about the emotional side of skin cancer.5 There are therapists who specialize in patients with cancer. There are skin cancer support groups. Or, you may have a therapist you trust and would like to continue seeing.
Support should start immediately – as soon as you are diagnosed. Your counselor will help you through all stages of treatment and with aftercare.
At some point, no matter how flooded with emotions you have become, you will need to accept the situation before you can move on. Just because you accept it you do not have to like it. You can accept skin cancer and let it know you are coming out with both fists fighting. A counselor will help you accept the fact that you are now a skin cancer survivor. He or she will empower you to stand up for yourself and help others.
You will never be the same. You life will be irrevocably changed. Some of these changes will be for bad while others will be for the good. The best advice for accepting and living with the emotional side of cancer is to corral your emotions. This is a life-changer. You will come out of your battle with new knowledge. Successfully completing treatment for skin cancer does not end with the last chemotherapy or radiation treatment. The emotional side of skin cancer is ongoing – you can now direct your emotions on a new path by guiding others who are beginning their battle with skin cancer.
References
1 Skin Cancer. (2010, August 10). Retrieved from Mayo Clinic: www.mayoclinic.com/health/skin-cancer/DS00190
2 Skin Cancer Prevention and Early Detection. (2011). Retrieved from American Cancer Society: www.cancer.org/Cancer/CancerCauses/SunandUVExposure/SkinCancerPreventionandEarlyDetection/skin-cancer-prevention-and-early-detection-u-v-protection
3 Skin Cancer. (2010, August 10). Retrieved from Mayo Clinic: www.mayoclinic.com/health/skin-cancer/DS00190
4 Emotions and Cancer. (2002, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2010). Retrieved from Cancer Council: www.cancercouncil.com.au/html/patientsfamiliesfriends/livingwithcancer/
emotionsandcancer/downloads/emotionsandcancer.pdf
5 Why Do I Feel So Overwhelmed. (n.d.). Retrieved from Cancer Council: www.cancerwa.asn.au/patients/coping-with-cancer/emotional-effects/
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The content provided on this site is for informational purposes only. Our content is not medical advice you should seek a licensed physician or health professional regarding all health issues. SKIN-CANCER.ORG takes no responsibility for any possible consequences from any treatment, procedure, exercise, dietary modification, or application of medication which results from reading this site.
