When you complete cancer treatment, you begin a new chapter in your life — one that could bring you happiness and hope. Unfortunately, it can also bring you fear and worry. You’re likely concerned the cancer could come back and might be thinking about dying and death.
Fear of cancer recurrence is normal with cancer survivors and can be quite intense for some. Having these types of feelings can no doubt be overwhelming. To help you work through these feelings, Dr. Mark Fraiman MD, MBA, FACS, and his multidisciplinary team created this guide to life after cancer and what you can expect.
How Will Life Change After Cancer Treatment?
Some individuals prepare themselves for life after cancer treatment better than others. Knowing what to expect can help. Here are some things you’ll likely experience after cancer treatment.
1. Going Back to Normal
You’ve been under the care of your cancer care team for a while, but now your medical team tells you there’s no need to visit for several months. That can be great news, but it also can come with adjustments.
Being a cancer survivor and finishing treatment can sometimes make it seem like you’re no longer fighting your cancer. You might feel you’re lost and alone without your cancer care team’s support. After all, they played an important role in your life. Not seeing them may make you sad and anxious.
You must face these feelings, and learn how to deal with them effectively. You shouldn’t expect things will go back to normal the way they were before you received your diagnosis. At least, not right away. Allow yourself some time to adjust to life after cancer and find a new normal.
2. Living With Uncertainty
Your doctor tells you there’s no sign of cancer now, but you can’t help but question this and are likely worried about it coming back and when. Your fear grips you and causes you to have problems with:
- Being close to your partner
- Sleeping
- Making simple decisions
You’re not alone. Your fear of cancer recurrence will diminish over time, and you’ll find you’re thinking less about cancer and more about life.
3. Staying Positive
While working towards a positive attitude is good, and can help you feel better about your life at the moment, you can’t always act “positive” all the time. If you find yourself feeling angry, sad, distressed or anxious at times, don’t feel guilty or beat yourself up. Embrace these feelings, but remember a positive attitude and mindset can make a world of difference in enjoying your life and the people around you.
How Your Body Will Change After Cancer Surgery
Even though you’ve completed your treatment, you’re still coping with the way it affects your body. Cancer treatment effects can take time to get over. During this time, you may wonder how your body should feel and what could be signs of your cancer coming back. Here are some common changes you may experience with your body following cancer treatment.
1. Feeling Fatigued
Cancer survivors often report feeling worn out or tired after their treatment is over. Fatigue is a common complaint during the first year following treatment. Sleep or rest doesn’t “cure” the fatigue you experience after cancer treatment. It’s also different than the fatigue you experienced while receiving cancer treatment.
Fatigue gets better over time for some people. Others, like those who underwent bone marrow transplants, might experience less energy for years after treatment completion.
2. Having Pain
You might experience pain following treatment. The treatment itself could cause your pain in some cases. Types of pain you could experience after cancer treatment include:
- Numbness or pain in your feet and hands due to injured nerves
- Skin sensitivity
- Painful scars from surgery
- Nerve damage from surgery, which can lead to severe pain known as neuropathy
If you’re experiencing pain, your doctor can help. Wanting relief from pain isn’t a sign of weakness.
3. Experiencing Diarrhea, Nausea, Headaches and Fever
For cancer patients, these types of side effects can affect their quality of life. They can make you uncomfortable and miserable and maybe even affect your ability to stick to your treatment or make treatment less effective than it should be.
4. Having Bowel and Bladder Problems
Bladder and bowel problems are an upsetting issue you may have to face following your cancer treatment. You may feel fearful or ashamed to go out in public. It may be hard to go back to work since you feel foolish having to use the bathroom all the time.
How to Maintain Health After Treatment for Cancer
There are many things you can do that could enhance your health after cancer treatment. Our top suggestions include the following.
1. Talk About a Survivorship Care Plan With Your Doctor
This plan may include:
- A schedule for other testing you may need, such as tests to see if there are long-term health effects from the cancer treatment
- A schedule for follow-up exams
- Instructions on what to look for and when you should seek medical advice from your doctor
2. Follow Post-Operation Incision Care Instructions
If your cancer treatment involved surgery, you’ll have an incision.
- If your skin below your incision feels numb, don’t worry — that’s completely normal. This numbness is due to your surgeon cutting the nerves during your surgery. It goes away over time.
- Your surgeon will remove your staples in your incision during your first appointment following your operation. Typically, this is around one to two weeks after discharge. Even though the staples will be in your incision, you might feel some tugging or tightness along your incision. This also is normal, and a little gentle stretching should help.
- If you’re discharged with Dermabond or Steri-Strips on your incision, they’ll loosen by themselves and fall off. If they don’t, you can take them off yourself after 10 days.
- Contact your doctor if you notice any puffiness or redness around the area of your incision or if there’s any drainage. These could indicate infection.
3. Follow Tubes and Drain Care
While you’re in the hospital, the nurse will help properly care for any tubes and drains you have. If you have an abdominal drainage tube, they’ll monitor the amount of fluid that’s draining from the tube. They’ll remove the tube once the amount is low enough.
Your medical team will let you know what to expect. If you still have the drainage tube after you’re discharged, the nurse will show you how to care for it properly once you’re home and provide you with the supplies you require. You may even have a home care nurse come to your home to help you.
4. Manage Pain
Individuals experience discomfort and pain for different lengths of time. You might still experience pain after discharge, and will require pain medicine. You may have tightness, muscle aches and soreness around your incision as you recover. If you do experience these things, it doesn’t necessarily mean anything is wrong. However, if these symptoms don’t ease up, contact your doctor.
Other instructions while managing your pain are:
- Take your medicines as needed and as directed.
- Don’t drink alcohol or drive while taking narcotic pain medicine.
- Call the doctor if your prescribed medicine isn’t easing your pain.
- You’ll experience less pain as your incision heals and you’ll require less medicine. You can ease the discomfort and pain at this point with an over-the-counter pain medication like ibuprofen (Motrin IB, Advil) or acetaminophen (Tylenol).
- Follow the nurse’s or doctor’s instructions for stopping any prescription pain relievers.
- Don’t take more acetaminophen than what’s instructed by the nurse or doctor or as directed on the bottle. Doing so could harm your liver.
- Pain medicine should help you perform exercises more comfortably and resume your regular activities. But, you could experience a slight increase in your pain once you start becoming more active — this is normal.
5. Keep All Follow-up Care Appointments
Full recovery at home will depend on the type of procedure you had. After your surgery, the doctor will have you visit their office every couple of weeks for a postoperative exam and evaluation. They’ll go over your surgical pathology and reports during your initial postoperative visit.
They’ll also examine your incisions and remove any staples and tubes. You might have to undergo imaging studies like MRI or CT scan depending on the procedure you had and the pathology. The imaging studies help the doctor check for cancer recurrence. They might also order some blood work to check the ranges of specific indicators, such as tumor markers or liver function tests.
6. Prepare for Follow-Up Care Appointments
Before visiting your doctor, it might help to make a list of all the questions you have. If you don’t understand certain medical terms your doctor uses, you can ask them to explain what they mean. Ask for a longer appointment if you have a lot of questions or concerns. It may help to take notes during your visit.
Let your doctor know if you have:
- New symptoms
- Changes in weight
- Difficulty performing everyday activities
- Changes in appetite
- Other health issues like diabetes, heart disease or arthritis
- Feelings of depression or anxiety
- New pains or aches that you feel aren’t related to an injury
- Familiar aches or pains that have become worse
- Medications you’re taking and other supplements or complementary treatments you’re using
Discuss any other issues with your doctor. For instance, you might want to let them know about any sexuality changes, practical issues like going back to work or how cancer has impacted your relationships.
7. Eat Well
Once you begin eating solid foods, it will still be a while before you can eat the same food portions you did before your operation. You’ll want to start off eating four to six smaller meals each day and drinking a lot of liquids. Don’t consume alcohol without checking with your doctor first.
8. Exercise and Stay Physically and Mentally Active
After your hospital discharge, your incision may look healed on the outside. However, it won’t be on the inside. Therefore, you’ll need to follow certain instructions provided by your doctor, such as:
- Not lifting anything more than five pounds after your surgery for a couple of months.
- Talking with your doctor before beginning any strenuous exercises like tennis or jogging.
You still want to stay as active as you can. Performing aerobic exercise like stair climbing and walking will help you feel better and gain strength. You can walk indoors at your local shopping center or mall or outdoors. Increase your walking distance gradually. Climb staircases slowly, stopping or resting as you need to.
9. Reduce Risk of Developing Secondary Cancer
There are some steps you can take to reduce your chances of developing secondary cancer and stay as healthy as you can. For instance, individuals who’ve had liver cancer shouldn’t use tobacco products. Avoiding smoking will lower your risk of developing lung cancer and might help reduce the possibility of you forming a new liver cancer.
To maintain good health, you should also:
- Stay physically active
- Maintain a healthy weight
- Limit alcohol consumption
- Consume a healthy diet with lots of plant foods
These steps could also decrease your risk of other health issues.
10. Manage Feelings
After any surgery, you could experience new and upsetting feelings. You might feel sad, weepy, irritable, worried, nervous or angry now and then. You might find it’s hard to control these feelings. If this occurs, you may want to seek emotional support.
11. Consider Survivor Support Groups
Emotional support can help both you and your family. Support will allow you to develop coping skills and express your feelings. Talking with other people who are going through a similar situation as yours can help alleviate loneliness. They may be able to provide you with useful ideas.
There are support groups and programs, including group or individual counseling and cancer survivor support groups, to help you with your post-cancer treatment. Some groups focus on dealing with feelings or learning about cancer. Others are more social and informal. Some groups are made up of only individuals with cancer and others include caregivers, families, spouses or friends. You’ll also find groups that focus on different stages of cancer.
Another option for support is online support groups. For instance, the American Cancer Society supports an online support community known as the Cancer Survivors Network.
12. Embrace the Positive Impact of Successful Surgery With Dr. Fraiman
Dr. Fraiman is a skilled and accomplished liver and pancreas surgeon with “below-published benchmarks” complication rates. Dr. Fraiman offers a multidisciplinary approach and has a team of specialists, including medical and traditional oncologists. They all work as a team to formulate a comprehensive, individualized treatment plan.
Contact Dr. Fraiman for an Appointment
If you have any questions about liver or pancreatic cancer treatment, contact Dr. Fraiman’s multidisciplinary team for a consultation. The caring and friendly specialists at The University of Maryland St. Joseph Medical Center Liver and Pancreas Center will ensure you receive the individualized care and support you require throughout each stage of your healing and recovery process.
Dr. Fraiman is a leading expert in diagnosing and treating a variety of diseases, including liver and pancreatic cancer. As a board-certified liver and pancreas surgeon, he’s performed many successful cancer operations along with his team.
We’re located in Towson, Maryland, and are here to address your specific needs. Contact Dr. Fraiman today to set up your appointment. Call 410-427-2024.
This article was medically reviewed by Dr. Mark Fraiman on August 25, 2019.
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