Overview

Pancreas Cancer is a devastating diagnosis. The fears are huge, the treatment is taxing, your emotions are stretched to the limit and chaos reigns. Until.. you decide to take back some Control, and Live Your Life.

This book is about Living... with... Pancreas Cancer. We really want to stress the word - LIVING. We are Pancreas Cancer Patients! We are sharing our personal experiences and opinions to help you wade through the emotions, the medical terminology, the treatment options and the fears that go along with all of it!! We have very different experiences. Each person and their situation is unique! This book provides some tips about what to expect, what works or doesn‘t work, and How to Enjoy Life. We hope this will help you and your support teams to cope better, overcome obstacles and nurture realistic and optimistic expectations.

Suddenly, your life has been turned upside down! You will develop a new and different perspective on Life. Many things will change! Your relationships with people will change. Your perspective on coping with day to day irritations will change. Your priorities will change. You will need to adjust to new challenges... How to cope with the disease and the treatment. How to deal with your own emotions. Some things will change in a very Good Way!. Be open to these possibilities. How to survive, and rise above the chaos, and find Happy Things to be Thankful for.

Description

In this Book, you will read about and see things that bring JOY to our lives, in stark contrast to the arduous impact of Pancreas Cancer. These are our Happy Places. We talk about the JOY of doing things that are fun, eating things that are yummy, traveling to places that are delightful, planning to do things that we may have put off in the past, reconnecting with friends that we’ve lost touch with, reveling in the beauty of nature, spending time with our Loved ones, enjoying interesting old - or new - hobbies, and being helpful to others. Many positive things are possible.

Happy Places enable us to leave the Darkness of Fear behind, and move into Light-Filled spaces and mindsets to Enjoy Life. The colorful photos of Happy Places remind us of the beauty in this world. They reinvigorate us, giving us the strength we need to Live with and thwart this Cancer. We hope that you enjoy the photos and what they represent. We also hope they Inspire you to find your own HAPPY PLACES!

We stress these Key Concepts:

Balance Emotional Health with Medical Treatment
Use Your Voice to Advocate for Yourself
Focus on what makes you Happy
Adjust to Challenges
LIVE Your Life with Joy and Happiness despite the challenges that Pancreas Cancer creates

The book provides background information about Pancreas Cancer and cancer terminology along with helpful resources and support information. Then it gets more personal, with details about our patient history, our experiences (good and bad), what to expect, how to cope, what has worked and not worked, and other tips.

Some of the Topics we discuss are:

Pancreas Cancer Overview: Staging and Standard of Care (SOC), Patient-Doctor Relationship, Second Opinions
References and Resources: Specialists, Information and Health Resources, Support Groups, Discussion Boards
Patient History: Pre-Diagnosis Symptoms, Diagnosis, Treatment, Side Effects
Managing Change and Chaos, Adjusting to Cancer in Your Life: Communication, Accommodations, Sleeping, Fatigue, Food, Driving, Hair Loss, Exercise, Priorities and Goals, Fun
EMOTIONAL Health: Balance Treatment with Quality of Life, Impact on Personal Relationships
Support Systems: Personal Caregiver, Financial, Peer, Clinical, Family, Friends, Animals
Cancer Treatments including Chemo, Surgery, Clinical Trials, Genetic Profiling and Palliative Care
Cancer and Treatment Challenges: Food Problems (Digestion - Diet - Blood Sugar), Fatigue, Stress, Neuropathy, Brain Fog (aka Chemo Brain), Chemo

About The Author

I was diagnosed with Pancreas Cancer 3 years ago. Next was an unsuccessful bout with Folfirinox chemo treatment. Quickly, the treatment plan changed - to a very successful Whipple procedure, followed by a modified Folfiri/Folfox chemo treatment. I am very fortunate to be Cancer-Free for the last 2 years. I am living a normal busy life, with no active cancer treatment.

The month after my diagnosis, I joined a Pancreas Cancer support group, composed of amazing, smart, honest, helpful cancer patients who shared their experiences, encouragement, advice and friendship. What a Gift!. We got excited about creating a pamphlet, with information to help others who are newly diagnosed or are caregivers. Well, that pamphlet grew a bit - and evolved into this Book:

Living Your Life with Pancreas Cancer

I am a retired Information Technology professional. I loved the technical and creative aspects of working in systems development, support, and IT training. Writing a book was never on my To Do list. It has been quite an adventure. My personal interests involve Enjoying Life with family, friends, travel, adventures, animals, music, sports, reading, shopping, puzzles, crafts, theater and the little things along the way. These interests have all become more important, when dealing with a cancer diagnosis.

Not surprisingly, the concept of Enjoying Life is a very strong theme throughout this book. Despite having this formidable cancer, we constantly stress the importance of finding Joy and Light and Happy Places in our Lives. I hope this book helps you find ways to Enjoy YOUR Life.

Genre:health & fitness
Sub-genre:Diseases / Cancer
Language:English
Pages:176
Paperback ISBN:9798350950458

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