Mar 5, 2013 | Posted by BCS
Breast cancer recovery isn?t simple. It doesn?t fit into a tidy box: the final radiation treatment, the last scheduled chemo appointment ? or even the follow-up oncologist visits that point to resuming life ?as you knew it.?
While those milestones are cause for jubilant celebration, survivors will tell you that life will never again be the same. However TBCS staffer and survivor Elizabeth Cluff will be the first to tell you that you can emerge from the experience a changed, but improved, version of yourself. Someone with greater fortitude, inner strength and a deep well of compassion.
?The emotional part will always be there,? she says. ?It?s not all doom and gloom, but you do have the scars to show for it; you think about it every day ? How do you forget being in the fight of your life??
The short answer: You don?t. And you shouldn?t. Very real emotions come along with breast cancer recovery, and learning to nurture those emotions is key. But how do you heal emotional wounds? How do you avoid becoming one of the 25% of cancer survivors who will become clinically depressed?
?The key is emotional release,? says Karen Belyan, M.Ed., a training specialist who works with TBCS to provide stress management techniques to breast cancer patients. ?It?s easy to get stuck in the emotional muck, to feel like you?re the only one who?s ever gone through this. That?s why support groups that can share your journey are so important to the emotional healing process.?
Belyan suggests that breast cancer patients and survivors start small with restorative self-esteem exercises. ?I recommend short, seven-day goals,? she says. ?In this way, you set yourself up for some kind of success.? Her program also advocates positive affirmations aimed at healing the psyche, a step she says is just as important as treating the disease itself. ?To help change behaviors and belief systems, we must learn how to truly feel the affirmations,? she says. ?You can learn to do this.?
Many breast cancer survivors have worked to heal emotional pain by seeking the guidance of organizations such as the National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship and CancerCare. Survivors also have turned to yoga, meditation, horse and art therapy programs, as well as to self-help books and websites penned by other survivors and medical professionals.
Emotional healing happens gradually, and while it requires the evaluation of difficult issues, it is an integral step to your ultimate healing.
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