This past weekend was full of cancer events for me. First, on Saturday, I attended a free half-day conference hosted by the Johns Hopkins cancer center, “Surviving Survivorship.” The two sessions I attended were on fear of recurrence, and creative journaling for cancer therapy. Then, on Sunday, my family and friends gathered for the Maryland edition of the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network’s annual fundraising run/walk, PurpleStride. I’ll write more about both creative journaling and PurpleStride. For now, fear of recurrence.
Technically, I shouldn’t yet be suffering from fear of recurrence, because I’m not yet in remission. But I know enough about cancer, and I’ve read enough cancer blogs and cancer memoirs to know that it’s coming. I don’t see any harm in preparing for it now. The session at this survivorship conference I attended was quite useful, led by an oncologist who was initially trained as a psychiatrist. He asked members of the group to first share their visceral, sensory experiences of fear of recurrence (what did it physically feel like, what did it do to your body, what were your specific triggers), and then to share the techniques and tricks that have helped them overcome fear of recurrence. We discussed medication for anxiety (which I do take now, although it was prescribed mostly for post-infusion relief of anticipatory nausea, which often goes hand-in-hand with anxiety), as well as mindfulness techniques like measured breathing. It was a helpful session, and the general mood of the room seemed to be relief that we could talk about this, acknowledge that there’s nothing wrong with it, and leave with practical tools to draw upon the next time it reared its unfortunate head. The truth is, though, that I long for the day when I can have true fear of recurrence. I dream of a time when I can think to myself, I’m in remission, and smile with relief. I dream of a time when my only cancer treatment can be biannual or even yearly CT scans and oncology check-ups. But I’m not there yet. I’m still actively in treatment, and my cancer is still very much here. At this point in my cancer experience, my anxiety doesn’t come from fear of recurrence, but fear of my next chemo treatment, and even worse, fear that I will never be in remission. Because my cancer is inoperable and my chemotherapy is open-ended, and especially because my doctors have specifically said that we’re treating my cancer as a chronic illness, I am afraid that there will never again be a time in my life when I don’t have cancer. Of course, there is no cure for pancreatic cancer now, but there are people out there - the 8% or even the 1% with stage IV - who survive past 5 years, and even make it a decade or more without active pancreatic cancer. As treatment continues to improve, those people may end up living multiple decades without active pancreatic cancer, and maybe even without recurrence. But the truth right now is that most of those people who make it past 5 years didn’t have inoperable stage IV pancreatic cancer. My case is advanced and difficult to treat. But then again, I also have the unusual advantage of being young. And my treatment is working so far. Tomorrow I have a CT scan, my first since July and only my third since starting treatment. I really have no idea what it will show. On the one hand, my symptoms seem to be improving slightly over time, and I have been able to continue my treatment, which proved that it was killing my cancer in my last scan and in my history of lab reports. On the other hand, I had to take a long break from treatment since my last scan (for that spleen procedure to raise my platelet levels), and the last time my tumor marker number was tested, it had risen again, slightly (after dropping quickly from a very scary number all the way down to the normal range). This could be a blip, this could mean nothing. Or it could mean that there’s new growth somewhere, or that my tumors have grown or simply stopped shrinking. All of this uncertainty, and the possibility of bad news, is giving me what people in the cancer community call, somewhat affectionately, “scanxiety.” Scanxiety is often experienced in conjunction with fear of recurrence, because people who are in remission begin to fear the possibility of recurrence most immediately before a scheduled, routine scan. But I’m finding now that people who aren’t yet in remission can also get scanxiety. Instead of being coupled with fear of recurrence, though, it’s coupled with fear of worse cancer - something that, as of yet, has no cute name. Since realizing that I’ve been slogging through the mire of scanxiety for some time now, I’ve tried various coping strategies: mindful breathing, mindful walking, adult coloring books, collage journaling (at that conference workshop), distraction, quality time with loved ones, and a recent discovery that is bringing untold joy into my life, tiny cooking videos. Unfortunately, none of these techniques is really working for me, or working enough. In combination, the total effect does relieve some of my anxiety. But I think scanxiety might be the kind of thing you just have to live through, until the scan is over and you get the results. Maybe you can soften the edges of it, maybe you can learn to live with it, to welcome it like a seasonal guest, but maybe you just can’t shake it until the source is resolved. So I’m putting one foot in front of the other, one moment at a time, and holding out hope for good news.
1 Comment
Kari Maberry
10/11/2016 08:41:57 pm
Every time I have read one of your posts, I have wanted to leave a reply. There is so much emotion reading your powerful writing, I have been unable to translate the pounding of my heart into words.
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Authorchildren's librarian, Smithie, writer, reader, cook, gardener, cancer patient, medical oddity, PANCAN patient advocate, #chemosurvivor, #spoonie Categories
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