Scanxiety - The Twilight Zone of Surveillance

Shea and Rick discuss the period right after treatment known as "Surveillance". 

This is a unique chapter of the cancer journey that lasts for many years. Surveillance is the process of monitoring your body to see if there is any cancer activity. This is usually done with a combination of blood tests and imaging that is re-checked every couple months. 

Shea and Rick discuss the pre-scan anxiety (Scanxiety) that is a persistent component of this part if the cancer experience. They discuss techniques they used to successfully manage the scanxiety. They also discuss the loneliness that often accompanies surveillance, When their friends perceive cancer is over when treatment is over and everything is "normal". But for the cancer patient it is not over. Making plans can often be difficult during this period.

Surveillance also accompanies the process of normalization. Treatment is over so people often return back to work. There is an awkwardness involved in the normalization process . They discuss the power of the word "cancer", and how to normalize the cancer patient returning to the "normal" world.

This is a great episode that explores an important part of the cancer experience that is often overlooked.