Transcript

Well, there’s no one size fits all because everybody is different. Everybody brings her own psyche to this particular cancer, which I think is very different from all the other cancers, because of its association with your femininity or your whole being. There’s no normal. Women don’t return to their normal lives. Every experience we have changes us, including this. So, at the end of all the treatment, where you have this very intense relationship with the health professionals, not only the doctors but the nurses, the psychologists, the pharmacists, you have this umbrella of care and support.

Suddenly, it’s “I’ll see you in three months, I’ll see you in six months,” and you have to – that’s when patients often need the psychological support the most, because suddenly they realize their life will never be the same and they have to find their new normal. They have to do it and they have to expect that their life won’t be the same as it was, but they’ll find their new normal. Once you validate that, then they’re usually okay. They’re going to live with the fact that they can’t be assured that they’re cured. They just have to learn it’s just a process. It’s frightening at the beginning, but that’s the way to move on. The more time that passes, that their cancer has not returned, the more reassured they are, it’s a matter of time.

Whatever activities they had in the past to return to, I’ve had some women who were frightened to go back to work. They felt they couldn’t cope. We’ve tried to help them understand that the longer they’re at home worrying, the harder it will be. They had to fill their lives with activities and meaning and that staying at home and worrying about their cancer was not the right thing to do. So, that’s one of the tips, and to appreciate their lives and their health and their recovery, rather than to worry about what might happen in the future because there’s no control over that.

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