Vim & Vigor - Fall 2010 - North Mississippi - (Page 41)

BY AMANDA MYERS YES, it’s serious. Yes, it’s scary. Yes, you have a lot of important decisions to make. But after a cancer diagnosis, it’s more important than ever not to panic— to stay as calm and as rational as possible. For Wendy Harpham, M.D., her ﬁrst thought after hearing she had nonHodgkin’s lymphoma at age 36 was her children. “I had three babies at home, ages 1, 3 and 5. I thought, ‘No matter what happens, this is going to affect my children.’ ” The diagnosis forced her to close her ofﬁce where she practiced internal medicine and devote herself to survival. As she navigated the tumultuous world of cancer, she gained a new perspective as a patient that she’d never had before as a doctor. Now, almost 20 years and nine courses of treatment later, Harpham’s cancer is in remission. She has written several books about her journey, including Diagnosis: Cancer: Your Guide to the First Months of Healthy Survivorship. Here, we answer some of the most common questions about what to do after a cancer diagnosis. How quickly do I need to start making decisions about my treatment? “People feel an urgency,” Harpham says. “Like, ‘I have cancer—I need to get it out!’ ” The stage at which your cancer is found— from stage 0 (very early, the cancer has not spread) to stage 4 (most advanced, the cancer has spread to another organ)—helps determine your treatment and prognosis, and thus, how quickly you’ll need to act. Ask your doctor how much time you have before beginning treatment. Your three most important jobs after a diagnosis, according to Harpham, are: 1. Make sure you get the correct diagnosis. 2. Deal with your immediate short-term situation— who will ﬁll in at your job? Who will take care of your children? 3. Deal with your emotions in a way that enables you to go back to No. 1 and No. 2. treatment fully conﬁdent that what you’re doing is the most conducive to your survival. “When the second opinion disagrees, your stress level can skyrocket,” Harpham says. Ideally, the doctors will discuss and come to a compromise on an approach for treatment. Still in disagreement? “Go for a third opinion,” she says. And focus on the main issues. Hair loss isn’t as important as the cure rate when choosing a treatment. How do I stay positive and stop asking, ‘Why me?’ People who were diagnosed with cancer in the early 1990s were referred to as “cancer victims.” Now, Harpham says, “we’re called cancer survivors.” The mentality that the most important job after a diagnosis is to survive can help you focus your energy. “You can deal with the ‘Why me?’ issues later,” she says. “Because even if you knew the answer, it wouldn’t help you. Table it. Right now, ﬁnd the best treatment.” Of course, that doesn’t mean it isn’t important to properly deal with your emotions after a diagnosis. It’s natural to be sad, angry, frightened and disappointed. Harpham believes that her prognosis was exceeded in part because she allowed herself to feel what she needed to. “I cried so much the ﬁrst couple of years. I cried with my friends, my husband, my oncologist. When I stopped crying, I could do what I had to do.” And when her cancer came back? “I didn’t cry. I’d already done that. I knew I could deal with what I had to deal with now.” Vim & Vigor · FAL L 2010 Should I get a second opinion? Getting a second opinion doesn’t necessar ily mean that you think your doctor is wrong or incompetent. “Even if the diagnosis is correct, there’s often several ways to treat something,” Harpham says. Here’s where the time factor comes into play. Weigh the risk of delaying treatment against the risk of not having the correct diagnosis. If delaying at all will decrease your chance of survival, get treated. The best-case scenario is that you’ll have plenty of time to get a second opinion, and that the second opinion will match the ﬁrst. As such, you can enter PHOTOGRAPH BY MASAAKI TOYOURA, GETTY 41

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Vim & Vigor - Fall 2010 - North Mississippi

Vim & Vigor - Fall 2010 - North Mississippi
Contents
Opening Thoughts
Lean On Me
Inside Look
What’s in Your Medicine Cabinet?
See the Future
The Female Factor
Take a Bite Out of Stress
Starring Role
Shouldering the Pain
Train Your Brain
What Now?
Choose Your Own Adventure
Community Report
Catch the Spirit

Vim & Vigor - Fall 2010 - North Mississippi

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