When Chemo is the New Black

Episode 12: About Grief

We are all grieving to some degree, it's impossible to be human and not experience loss (losing my keys, my hair, and maybe my mind), and grief is a natural and unavoidable process. So how we grieve when dealing with cancer is really important.
There are different stages and tasks for working through grief, depending on which researcher and model you look at. Grief reactions look different at different points in time. 
A lot of people facing serious illness also have anticipatory grief for losses which haven't yet occurred. If you're seriously ill then it's likely that the people you are closest to will also be dealign with anticipatory grief, this is a natural impact of dealing with serious illness. It's useful to know what this looks like and have some ways to make sure it doesn't negatively affect your relationships. 
I think I'm going to start anticipatorily grieving the loss of this cancer...
Please be gentle with each other. 

Episode 11: Other Peoples' Expectations

When dealing with a serious illness managing other peoples' expectations shouldn't really be your problem, but, well, yadda yadda yadda.
Catching cancer is a great time to take stock of your own limits (as this will happen regardless), take stock of your relationships, and to figure out where the healthy boundaries are that will work for you right now.
Practical advice on how to take steps to put some useful limits in place, so as to maintain better relationships and a more realistic and compassionate environment for healing.

Episode 9: What is Strength?

This episode looks at the many forms that strength can take. It also looks at how to develop more strength so as to find ways through difficult or (apparently) impossible situations.
In reality, there are so many things we can do to improve our sense of strength. 
Please note that this episode was recorded just after chemo, so it's a little breathless, but recording it certainly gave me more strength! 

Episode 10: Silly Walking Through Medical Trauma: Strategies to Stay Resilient

This episode is brought to you by the ministry for silly walks, interpretative dance, and loads of dark chocolate. 
Cancer, serious illness, and treatments can be traumatic for the person experiencing it as well as for those around them. But there are many things you can do to try to lessen the impact of these moments on your emotional wellbeing. We look at techniques to use in the moment, and after a potentially traumatic event. 
Whether it's handling acute stress or avoiding long-term post-traumatic effects, this episode offers insights and practical advice for both patients and those who care about them.

Episode 8: Is Chemo Working?

It is very normal to wonder if treatment is working, and sometimes it can be hard to tell. 
This episode looks at signs that chemotherapy is working, and how to tell in the unlikely situation that is might not be. 
We also talk briefly about how to harness the natural anxiety about treatment in such a way as to facilitate treatment hopefully working better. 

Episode 7: Travelling during treatment

This an episode for all those who like to wander, but find themselves temporarily stuck due to pesky cancer treatment. We discuss some ideas about why travelling might or might not be. good idea, how to get travel insurance, and some things to assess as part of feasibility planning. 
Please remember though, if you are immunocompromised or in active cancer treatment, it's a smart idea to wear a mask during, and wash your hands after using any communal transport option. 

Episode 6: Telling people

It can be very overwhelming telling anyone about a cancer diagnosis, particularly those who are closest to you. This episode looks at some ways to make this process easier, as well as the argument for letting people know so that they can help you (or get out of your way). 

Episode 5: My Bionic Portacath

Becoming bionic aka getting an implantable chamber or catheter.
I think Nietzsche had it right. You’ve got to learn to love your fate, otherwise it will just make you bitter and quite possibly very boring.
Getting a port is anything but boring, I share the story of getting the port implanted, and a little bit about what it's like to be the proud owner of a port. 
 

Episode 4: Chemo, Preparing to Kick Cancer's *ss

Preparing to kick cancer's means usually preparing for chemo - unless you have supernatural self-healing powers, in which case please contact me as I probably have a job for you...
This episode looks at what to do before chemo, on the day of chemo, and the best environment for recovering from chemo, so that you can get organised in advance. We talk about how to organise on a practical and social support level, so as to get through chemo in the best possible shape. 

Episode 3: Improving your health

Episode 3: Improving Your Health
I’m so glad you are all still alive! This is brilliant! Now lets talk about what you can do to try and stay this way. 
There’s a lot you can do: we will have a look at the research and books by Dr O Simonton (psychologist), the research into the factors for radical remission for incurable cancer patients by Dr Kelly Turner, and some useful buddhist thinking on life and death.