Participating in the post cancer life without criticism

Yes we must participate in our lives post cancer. We need to do the right things in order to stay healthy and help reduce the chance of recurrence. The best things we can do are the things that all adults should do - they simply become more important:eat rightmaintain a healthy weightexercisereduce/avoid alcohol consumptionBut as an additional stressor, we tie in the emotional impact of our cancer diagnosis.Dr Bechold, here, writes about life post cancer as not a passive sport. I agree with her points but disagree with her tone. First of all, clearly although she has been a doctor for 30 years, she clearly has never been diagnosed with cancer herself. Back to if you  haven't walked the walk, you can't talk the talk.Second of all, she seems to blame the patients for their non compliance with recommendations for exercise, healthy lifestyle, and recurrence risk reduction."You can’t see that breast cancer survivor every 3 to 6 months, watch her weight balloon up, and not ask her what is causing this to happen. We must take time to talk to people and ask about their lives and how they are living each day with an eye on remaining cancer free. I had one patient who was clearly having some anxiety issues. As we talked, I found out that she was self-medicating every evening with a bottle of wine. While she graded papers! After I picked my chin up off the floor, I advised her that this was not an acceptable coping mechanism." Hmm... so back to the patient whose weight w...
Source: Caroline's Breast Cancer Blog - Category: Cancer Tags: being a patient being active blame healthy lifestyle stress Source Type: blogs