Acorn Health Blog

By Eileen Strong 25/1/23

The  “Hidden Costs of Cancer”

I’m very pleased to be able to be able to offer what I refer to as “cancer wellness” and “cancer support” services to those who are on their cancer journey.  I refer to it as “Cancer Journey” because even if a person experienced surgery or cancer treatment in the past, and is now living and enjoying life to the max while in remission from cancer, the treatment process itself can leave a person with many after-effects that leave them feeling very different from “who I was before Cancer”. 

I was really interested to find that this is the theme MacMillan Cancer Support is using this year in recognition of World Cancer Day on Feb 4.  

If this resonates with you, you may like to find out more about that from MacMillan direct.  Here is an extract and link to their website . 

Using this as  a timely theme for this year’s World Cancer Day, I would really like to reach out to you if you are one of those people  on their “Cancer Journey” and invite your feedback .. because here at Acorn, we’d like to be able to do more to help you too.

Our “Cancer Wellness” Initiative at Acorn

We’ve got a team of Practitioners here who want to hear how we can do that.  This is an exciting initiative  for us, because whilst we are already providing a number of cancer wellness services, it helps us to raise awareness of the some of the lesser known challenges of living with the effects – and after-effects – of cancer treatment.  

Let’s just have a quick chat about some of those very same challenges  that my own cancer-journey clients, family members, friends and colleagues have discussed with me.  You might find some of them quite surprising .. and this really is just scratching the surface: 

• Ooh ssshhhh don’t use that C World! ?!  Some of us really feel very very uncomfortable about using that “C” word. I mean C as in Cancer of course.  Nobody is denying that a cancer diagnosis IS a serious thing and something we don’t like to have shoved in our faces.  But then, 30 years ago, we had the same issue with Mental Health.  Oooh, don’t talk about it; just bung folks in a mental health hospital and give them electric shock treatment; that should sort the job out. Shouldn’t it? Well no,  but it seems that there was a real stigma about mental health issues at that time; when only now are we being more open about it, with celebrities and even royalty openly discussing their mental health needs.  Is it the same for the “C” word now?  Take a deep breath. Just say it. It’s cancer.  It’s not necessarily terminal.  The more we find out about cancer with the advancement of technology and science, the more people are surviving it and living longer.  There are more cancer survivors than ever before.
• Social Needs – Following diagnosis, you notice that some friends or colleagues “go quiet” when you walk in the  room, or even cross the road, when they see you (or your immediate family) coming. “They just don’t know what to say to me”.  Imagine how this might  feel if it happened to you, whether in good health or otherwise.
• Victor V Victim Mindset  – Close family, or members of your immediate “social support” circle keep telling you how sorry they are to hear about your terrible diagnosis .. when what you want to hear is less Doom and Gloom and a more pragmatic approach, because you don’t want to feel like a helpless victim; you want to feel optimistic and positive, not negative and disempowered.
• Not Walking On Eggshells – Your brave ever-smiley face is actually .. just a brave, ever-smiley face.  You’re feeling a lot more inner turmoil than you care to admit.  But you haven’t found a way to let yourself be your authentic self, and just let your mind-body-emotions connect. It’s more important to be the strong one who holds it all together, just like you always have done.   Does that sound like you?
• Rebuilding Body Strength and Resilience – Following treatment, your digestive tract has been damaged; sexual intercourse is uncomfortable (even if you feel  like doing it), you are constantly managing fluid retention and risk of oedema; not to mention wrestling with your new false teeth and lack of salivary glands.  You didn’t find out about all that till later.
• Hormones have gone haywire and you feel a bit like an emotional omelette. Your fuse is short, and your sense of humour seems to have done a complete by-pass.  Your energy levels also dip and dive leaving you slightly manic or low and depressed in a heartbeat. Where did that “old you” ever go? 
• Mental health; recurrent ruminating that affects your sleep patterns .. The memory of the day you got your diagnosis still haunts you; the look on your doctor’s face, the tone of voice, the words .. even after years in remission. Ugh.
• Loss of Confidence , Self Esteem, and Poor Body Image … we get that don’t we even when we feel relatively healthy.   When you’re trying to find a way to come to terms with the now you, these are just some of the challenges you may experience. 

And the list goes ever on.  This really is – as I said before – just scratching the surface.  Everyone’s experience is different, and unique to them.

 Thing is, you’ve survived it all, and you are still here .. and you want to stay here too and live as full and active a life as you possibly can.  

Tell us how we can help you?

Do any of those specific challenges above resonate with you? Some of the key resources we can help support you with are:

1. Safe, specialist, massage & comfort-touch based relaxational therapy
2. Nutritional advice to specifically address minimization of symptoms during treatment and promoting after-treatment recovery
3. Counselling to help strengthen body image, rebuilding self-esteem and confidence, dealing with loss and grief
4. Expert Relationship Advice to help navigate the stress, strain, and even breakdown of relationships – our nearest and dearest can worry inconsolably about us, and they feel some stress and strain too. 
5. Guided visualization and meditation techniques to help creative a positive mindset and induce the proven power of your own inner mind-brain-body medicine.
6. Gain insights into your body’s energetic (bio-resonant) frequencies and overall energy image, to highlight which areas might need some extra TLC as you move forward on the next part of your health and wellbeing journey. 

The beauty of this offering can be that it helps to significantly reduce the overwhelm of knowing where to exert your energy and resources at a time when you need it most.

Help us to help others – complete our Survey

Please take just 2 minutes out of your busy day to  click below to complete this very short, concise Survey – it will help us to plan and select our Top 3 most  important services that we’ll offer to our clients on the Wellness Day.

Click to Complete Cancer Wellness Day Survey

Just fill in the survey, then click SUBMIT.  You’ll receive a confirmation from JOTFORM to let you know it’s been sent.   Thank you so much for taking the time!  We really appreciate your help.  (Feel free to remain anonymous on the form if you prefer to do so, but if you do share your name and email address, we’re happy to get back to you personally)

Alternatively, please email me direct at eileen@eileenstrongcoaching.com to register your interest and receive the survey direct to your inbox.

For  more  about Eileen, visit EileenStrongCoaching.com