Your Family and Friends for Cancer Survivors

From the DFCI/NCCN Cancer Survivorship Information ^TM   

When treatment ends, you are not alone in celebrating and wondering about the challenges that may come next! Spouses, partners, family members, friends, co-workers – anyone who was with you on the journey may experience a mix of emotions when your treatment is over. They may feel joyful that you are doing well, but worried about what could happen next. They might feel confused about how to get back to “normal” life with you. Fewer clinic visits mean that partners or spouses may feel like they are responsible for your health in a way they weren’t before.

It may be a time of managing the expectations of those around you. Your family, friends, and colleagues may expect you to quickly return to your “pre-cancer” self. They may think you can be as physically, emotionally, and mentally active as you were before your diagnosis. You may also feel that you “should” be able to easily pick up any responsibilities you set aside during treatment.

Allow yourself to adjust to this new phase in your own time. It may be a quick recovery, or it may take time to slowly build up your physical and emotional strength. It can help to talk honestly with those around you. Find out what they are expecting from you, and what they hope to offer. It may be a time to renegotiate roles and tasks that had to be reassigned while you were putting your energy into healing from treatment.

Patients and their family and friends often say that it is after treatment is over that they have time and energy to reflect back on the cancer experience. Now is the time for you and the people in your life to think about what you have been through, take stock of where you are now, and look forward to the future.