talkingaboutcancer.com

This site is provided to help the extensive community of people who are forced to deal with the emotional impact of cancer. And what a community it is! With about 12 million cancer patients and survivors in North America alone (increasing by over 1.5 million per year), this number swells closer to 100 million when you consider just immediate and extended family members. If you then think about friends and co-workers…… just who isn’t impacted?

Cancer is a double whammy – two diseases in one. It is a two-headed monster with one voracious head eating away at your cells and the other, more insidious but equally voracious head eating away at your mind. While the physical cancer begins long before you are aware of it, steadily growing with the sole intention of killing you, the emotional cancer attacks the moment you are diagnosed and starts to digest your belief systems, your sense of self and your happiness.

This site focuses exclusively on the emotional aspects of cancer.  It’s purpose is to promote discussion and sharing and to create continually expanding content that will provide a valuable resource for those diagnosed or living with cancer, their friends and loved ones, and their caregivers.

Clearly, some cancers are more deadly than others and so the extent of the emotional impact will vary, but equally clear is the fact that we all experience and react to crises differently. In other words, the emotional impact of a cancer diagnosis could be no less for an individual with a “mild”, easily treatable cancer than for someone with a “worse” cancer. So this site will not differentiate on the basis of physical types, nor will it discriminate on the degree of emotional impact. It will focus on emotional cancer as a disease unto itself. Our minds and our emotions are fragile things and deserve to be treated accordingly.

Let us also not forget that, while the physical disease affects us individually, the emotional disease is a contagion that infects everyone around us. Unless you keep it all a terrible secret (a very, very bad thing to do), the emotional aspect of your cancer will affect everyone around you – your spouse, your parents, your friends, your children, your co-workers, and eventually (perhaps) those you leave behind. And who is there to treat them? In fact, they are all in the same boat! Where can all of us go to get emotional help, advice, encouragement and maybe a sharp dose of reality therapy?

Well ….. we can come here. To talkingaboutcancer.com where you can say what’s on your mind, ask questions, give advice, share your experiences, talk about what makes you feel bad and, even more importantly, what makes you feel good. Everyone is welcome, whether you are newly-diagnosed, barely crawling as a result of high-dose chemo, or a survivor; whether you are family or friend or just a compassionate individual. We also wholeheartedly welcome doctors, nurses or any of the myriad other health-care practitioners involved in treating the psychological or emotional aspects of cancer. You are all very welcome.

Talk is good. Sharing is good. Opening up is good. Offering opinions and advice is also very good. Even venting a little anger is good.

So please join us.

Let’s talk.

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ABOUT PRIVACY

Privacy! This is the Internet! Publishing comments on the Internet is all about reaching the widest possible audience of interested people. In this case, we are all contributing our thoughts, experiences and advice with the purpose of helping others deal with the emotional impact of cancer.

Use any name you like when you comment on a post. We will not make your email address public.

So comment away with the knowledge that you are helping others.

Be open, be courageous.

Let’s talk.

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ABOUT ETIQUETTE

This site is all about helping people deal with a devastating illness and it’s emotional impact. We encourage openness, honesty and integrity and do not want to moderate or “filter” any comments.

So say what’s on your mind. Dig deep and bare your soul as much as you dare. Show your emotions, including your anger, but please keep it civilized.

If you like what someone has to say, let them know. If you disagree, go ahead and say it, but be respectful.

If you see something that seems offensive, let us know via email at: info@talkingaboutcancer.com

Be nice.

Be respectful.

But let’s talk.

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