What to do after cancer treatment is over!!

Here you are now FINALLY finished your months of treatments and thrown into your new
life called cancer survivorship, NOW WHAT THE HELL DO YOU DO???? This is the dilemma
that thousands upon thousands of cancer survivors face every second of every day!!!You, if you
are like me, put all of your focus and energy(what little of it you have) into beating your cancer and
to find ways to make your days while in treatment as tolerable as possible. This GOAL that we set
for ourselves to remain in remission and get through treatment, all ends at the last drip or swallow
of chemo!!! YEAH, WE DID IT<>
of chemo, my wife and I and went out for supper to celebrate. I told her when I had about a year left
of my treatments that the next day when I'm finished taking this SHIT, we're going out for supper and
I'M HAVING A BEER!!!! True to my words, we did exactly that, only I think I had 3 beers, oops!!!
Oh well, I guess I may have deserved it, but I found that drinking alcohol isn't as fun as it used to be.
My life has a list of things today that are marked WAY higher on the priority list than going out to
pubs and drinking beers!! The one thing about having this celebratory beer was that it, at the time,
gave me a piece of normalcy or how it used to be pre- leukemia!!! That is one of the main issues that
cancer survivors face post treatment - WHAT DO WE DO NOW??? I know that some survivors
have no problem picking up where they left off, I think that most of these people put on a BRAVE
face and do this for their own psyche because they are either afraid to let anyone in, don't want to
have to deal with their cancer experience or are used to keeping their stuff to themselves!!! Prior to
my diagnosis, I never wanted to share my thoughts or feelings with anyone, not even my wife!! After
being diagnosed with Acute Leukemia and having 2 straight years of chemo and brain radiation, I
think that people NEED TO KNOW my story and how I somehow found the strength and courage to
carry on like it was NO BIG DEAL!!! I feel bad for the survivors who don't/won't talk about their
experiences because it not only helps me mentally it helps me emotionally. Many of you may think
that it isn't important or no biggie, but man, looking this monster straight and the face, eye to eye,
and telling it to go to hell and actually winning your battle, WOW, that's the coolest and most emotional
story that very few people in this world can tell!!! You got to be proud of yourselves and take the time
to sit back and rest and reflect, one thing about surviving and ultimately beating cancer is that it is
a physically draining experience, but one that I wouldn't trade for anything else that has happened
in my life to date!!! BE PROUD OF YOUR SURVIVORSHIP!!!!

I have a few suggestions on what we can do post treatments to make the adjustment into a non-cancer environment, if you will!! I am almost 6 months post treatment and I'm not working yet. I
am finding my energy levels to be taking a LONG time to return to me. I, along with my wife, decided
that I would explore a totally different profession from what I used to do(SALES). So I have been
taking courses via distance learning to be a Home Inspector and I have found that , after being out
of school (high school) for 20 years, being a student again is FUN!!!! I love these courses and I can't
wait to be honing my new knowledge and skills in this profession!! So # 1. Thing to do, if you aren't
working yet or want something else, LEARN SOMETHING TOTALLY NEW TO YOU - this will
take your mind off of cancer , for a while, and it will give you a new perspective on your life.
THE MOMENT YOU STOP LEARNING, YOU STOP LIVING!!!
I also have been volunteering for a few organizations. I volunteer once every other week for 4 hours
with the Canadian Blood Services, I am the after donation server. I give these remarkable ladies and
gentlemen, who take an hour of their hectic schedules to give the gift of life, refreshments like soup
or drinks and cookies. I was the recipient of 11 or so transfusions while going through treatment, so
I figure someone has saved my life at least 11 times, the least I can do is serve them snacks and help
volunteer!!! I also do door/door canvassing for Canadian Cancer Society and I am going to be taking
the Peer Support phone training in April to be a friendly voice to other survivors who just need to
talk about, well anything from chemo issues, or whatever and I am VERY EXCITED about this. I
am also doing a few different things with the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society as well.
The one thing about volunteering is that it gets you back into the flow of life and you get the interraction with other people. You are starting to get back in the swing of social activities and you
can gain a little confidence if you have lost some self esteem because of your illness!!
THE MEASURE OF A PERSON ISN'T HOW BIG THEIR HOUSE IS OR HOW MANY CARS THEY OWN, RATHER IT'S WHAT THEY GAVE BACK DURING THEIR TIME ON THIS GREAT PLANET WE CALL EARTH!!

So to recap, for me, a couple of things that are making the adjustment from cancer to a non-cancer
life are;LEARNING SOMETHING NEW OR DIFFERENT, AND VOLUNTEERING!! There are
a lot of other things that I do on a daily basis and I will touch on those later.

In closing I want to let you all know that if you treat your diagnosis with the attitude of , THAT'S IT,
I'M SCREWED, well then there is a GOOD chance that YOU MAY BE!! However, if you take the
news of your diagnosis and channel it into a thought of , OKAY, THIS SUCKS,and get the MY ME,
out of the way ~ right away, and SAY" CANCER NOT ONLY DO I HATE YOU, I CHALLENGE
YOU" and keep that positive frame of mind and inner strength, which we ALL HAVE if we choose
to let it out, no matter what the doc. says at diagnosis, whether the outcome looks good or bad, stay
focused and positive and YOU CAN OVERCOME ANYTHING!!!

Til next time,

Darren