What happens when you’re diagnosed with terminal cancer? How can you go back to normal life when everything has been altered by the news? A new study takes on those very questions.
The study, led by Carole Robinson, professor emeritus with UBC Okanagan’s School of Nursing, reports on the process of living well with “an awareness of dying.” That means that in some form or another, the people in the study knew that death was coming, ranging “from awareness of the possibility of dying, to accepting the possibility of dying, to acceptance that ‘I am dying,'” the study reports.
Read MoreThe five phases the study identified were:
1) struggling
2) accepting
3) living with advanced cancer
4) sharing the illness experience
5) reconstructing life
The study says each phase “is revisited over time as the illness changes and new challenges arise,” so it’s not like you go through it once and you’re done. You keep going through the cycle as things change.
“Despite the fact that the phases are interconnected and interactive, there is a sequence to the larger process of Living well with Awareness of Dying,” which means that even though all the phases are connected and the phases don’t always happen in perfect order, there is some order to the process of learning to live well.
Some of the strategies for living with advanced cancer that people talked about included, “making life adjustments, maintaining a positive attitude, normalizing, and hoping,” the study says.
“Over time, participants realized struggling against the disease created additional difficulties. In fact, they understood it was counterproductive so they made a conscious choice to let go of struggling,” the study reports, “Some referred to it as being the only choice they could make while living with the uncertainty of advanced cancer. This enabled accepting their life circumstances at some level and learning to live alongside their illness.”
“The importance of family love and support cannot be underestimated. For all the participants, awareness of dying led them to focus on living well. Sharing the experience with loved ones softened suffering remarkably. They were aware they did not have time to lose,” the study says.
"Although it might happen in moments, participants were able to put advanced cancer behind them and live life rather than living their illness," the study notes, "Living in the moment enabled deep appreciation of everyday things such as the beauty of a flower garden."
“Globally there are 14.1 million new cancer cases diagnosed each year, 8.2 million cancer deaths, and 32.6 million people living with cancer. Historically, researchers have studied the concept of living well with a chronic illness, but not specifically cancer,” the study reports, “those studies convey the idea it may be possible to live well with advanced cancer, but little is known about how it is done or how to support it.”
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