June is National Cancer Survivors Month. More than 18 million people in the U.S. are cancer survivors.
Cancer survivorship actually starts when a person is diagnosed.
Treatment for cancer, and how long treatment will take, depends on the type of cancer a person has and how your body responds to treatment.
Brandon Costantino, the Oncology Support Program Manager at GBMC's Sandra & Malcolm Berman Cancer Institute says once a patient beats cancer adjusting to a cancer free life, with fewer doctor visits, can be difficult, "For cancer patients, a lot of times they've been seen by a physician, routinely, maybe once a month, maybe every two weeks, and then they've been receiving treatment. And then all of a sudden, the treatments over and it might feel like no one's keeping an eye on them."
He says surviving cancer is physical, but also mental, "So that is sort of a mental and physical side because I think they're the concerns are about physically what's going on with him but then mentally, it just feels like all of a sudden no one's keeping an eye on me."
But your care team is always there. If cancer is going to come back it usually happens in the first two years, after five years you are less "And let's say they're a lung cancer survivor, for instance, and they get a cough, you know, natural first fear is, oh, my gosh, it's back. Right? People get coughs all the time has nothing to do with cancer. But that is not that is not the way our brains are wired necessarily. And some people are more fearful and have more anxiety than others. And we want to make sure that those people know that these things are going to happen. It's normal, it's okay to feel nervous or afraid. But reach out to us make sure we know what's going on. And let us help you, you know, put your mind at ease."
Make sure you continue to surround yourself with family and friends who understand your journey, who know whey you need them and know when you need space.
