When I started blogging in 2014, it was relatively easy - all I needed to do was to talk about my experience to help raise awareness of Neuroendocrine Cancer; then talk about my hike along Hadrian's Wall for a local Charity. The blog was only ever intended to be a temporary supporting tool for the walk and its build up; but I was persuaded by good reviews and viewing numbers to keep it going. That suddenly made it more difficult!
In my early blogs, there were several 'no go areas' which were either too complex or potentially controversial. I didn't really have much time to think them through properly at that point. However, I've since dabbled in some of these areas to test the waters. Since my charity walk was completed, I've suggested that:
The aim of this blog post is to bring these 3 areas together to summarise and emphasise why they are important to me. I believe a cancer patient's problems can at times go beyond the physical, i.e. the mind can also be affected. My research indicates that any cancer patient is at risk of succumbing to depression and anxiety with one study indicating it could be as high as 40% with an equal split between clinical depression and subclinical depression. The latter is an interesting condition as it's not as severe as the former but can last much longer. I suspect if I dug deeper, I would find there are other factors at play including (but not limited to) geography, socio-economic and gender. It's also worth stating that these issues can also affect someone who is living with, or caring for, a cancer patient.
It would appear that studies into depression and anxiety in cancer patients have been a challenge because symptoms occur on a broad spectrum ranging from sadness to major affective disorders and because mood change is often difficult to evaluate when a patient is worried about death, is receiving cancer treatments, is fatigued or is experiencing pain. Living with cancer or depression can be hard (I can vouch for the former) – battling both together must be even more difficult. According to Cancer Research UK (one of the biggest and respected names in Cancer), depression and anxiety issues are an important but largely under-recognised problem for people with cancer. Read more by clicking here.
Many people still see a cancer diagnosis as a death sentence but improvements in medical science has meant that fewer people now die of cancer (although certain cancers are still struggling, e.g. Pancreatic). If fewer people are dying of cancer, it clearly indicates that more people are now either living with their cancer or going into remission? The latter is indeed very good news and will have impacted the survival figures greatly. However, some incurable cancers can also have a good prognosis or outlook despite their ability to put a dent in Quality of Life (QoL). These cancers can provide physical and mental challenges to patients who are living with both the side effects of the cancer and the (lifelong) treatment. My own cancer is one such type - Neuroendocrine Cancer, sometimes known as 'the silent cancer' or 'cancer in slow motion'. There are worse cancers out there and even patients with metastatic disease can have good prognostic outcomes and live fairly normal lives with the right treatment. However, each person is different and there can sometimes be a varying cost in terms of quality of life and risk of patients succumbing to depression and anxiety issues.
As an incurable Cancer patient, I have at times felt like my mind wasn't coping very well despite a healthy and happy outlook - not forgetting that I look so well :-) I'm good at bottling things up so it's easy for me to put on a façade. However, I've always managed to give myself a proverbial 'kick up the backside' if I feel a drop in my levels of focus and determination. It's too easy to be constantly fearful and blame every single ache and pain on my cancer - this just increases the fear. This is one of the reasons why I studied my disease in some detail and work with my medical team prompting them as my own advocate where I think there is a strong connection.
I believe a positive attitude is important for anybody with cancer including those living with incurable cancers. I'm not suggesting a positive attitude helps kill cancer cells but it can be a useful weapon against the condition and maintenance of a good quality of life.
My cancer is incurable - I cannot change that, so I'll just have to deal with it!
Ronny
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