About the Book
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. 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. 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've all been dealing with Pancreas Cancer, and 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. 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 dear friends that we've lost touch with, reveling in the beauty of nature, spending quiet times with our Loved ones, spending time with interesting old - or new - hobbies, and being helpful to others. Many positive things are possible. Our 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
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 Impact and Palliative Care
Cancer and Treatment Challenges: Food Problems (Digestion - Diet - Blood Sugar), Fatigue, Stress, Neuropathy, Brain Fog (aka Che
