Episode 027: Living It Up After Cancer
Aug 04, 2018•38 min•Transcript available on Metacast Episode description
Look, I’m a huge fan of adding something new to your life after cancer, something that means the world to you, something that you really care about. That’s why I have so much in common with Dana, she took her energy and she’s channeled it into becoming an advocate for young adults who had cancer, for cancer survivors and their caregivers. Here is what we cover in this conversation:
Overcoming the diagnosis
Your emotional shield during treatment
The challenges beyond recovery
Our right and duty to ask for help
Caregivers, the forgotten people
Living stories and why we need more of them
Survivors and the road ahead
The instruction book for cancer (that doesn't exist)
and much, much more!
Links
The Dragonfly Angel Society
Dana Stewart (Cure Today)
Episode 026: Stand Up For Your Rights
Full Transcript
Joe: Well, Dana, thanks so much for joining me. I really want to go back to if you had a time machine and we were to go back to this crazy time when you found out you had cancer, how did you react? What went through your mind?
Dana: My very first thought was, I never thought I would get it. I feel naïve saying that, but I was 32 years sold. I really had no family history. For me, it was like for everybody, it was a massive shock, but I was in that initial denial, this can’t be happening, this would have never happened to me. I know everybody says that, but it was nothing that I ever planned on happening, unfortunately.
Joe: Yes, absolutely. Your family and your friends, how did they react? Did they support you in a way that you wanted to be supported?
Dana: Absolutely. I think everybody shared in their surprise and denial, if you will, like I did. When I originally found my lump, I unfortunately didn’t act on it immediately because I had that mindset of, I’m so young, nobody in my family had breast cancer, I’m sure it’s nothing, I’ll just go about my life. The next time I see my doctor, I’ll have it checked. When I had it checked, they really weren’t worried, it didn’t feel like cancer. Everybody was status quo. Then when we started going down that road that it really was cancer, the good thing is, after my friends and family got over that initial shock,
I was blown away by the support I received. You find out who your friends and family really are. It was pretty amazing. Actually, it’s what got me through because I didn’t get a lot of the crying, they wouldn’t let me be the woe is me. They were like, fine, we’re going to fight this with you. It was an incredible journey for them to be with me on.
Joe: Yes, that’s so fantastic to hear, Dana. Even if you have those people who are really close to you and they’re really supporting you through it, it can still be really tough to deal with emotionally and mentally because stuff like in between treatment and you’re waiting for results and to hear from your specialists. Was there anything that helped you stay on top of it emotionally and mentally?
Dana: During treatment, I found that I was on auto-pilot. I had my list of appointments, treatments, my surgeries, everything. I’m kind of a planner. As long as I had my list of here’s what I have to do, I worked with my nurse navigator on that, I felt pretty comfortable that I could make it through. Like I said, I kind of turned on autopilot, so the emotions were kind of suppressed. For me, it was let’s just do everything they tell me to do and let’s get this done and move on with my life. That was, in my opinion, the easy part. It was the aftermath for me that was a lot more difficult.
I allowed myself to feel the emotions when I was done with my final chemo treatment. That’s where it really got tough for me more so than the treatment itself. One of the big things that I… that I prayed that the cancer isn’t going to come back. Nobody understands this.
