• Look after as many self-care tasks as you can.
• Be methodical and dedicated about eating the right foods and doing regular exercises to increase your strength
  and mobility.
• Keep charts of your progress to help you feel a sense of accomplishment.
• Carefully choose some little jobs you can do around the house, whether it's tending plants or caring for a pet or
  finding some other outlet for your ability to nurture. 
    Your self-esteem can also be improved if you get involved in a range of supportive programs such as special group counseling or patient support organizations. If there are no support groups in your area, talk to your local medical staff, social workers, clergy and other people with cancer and start one yourself.

Avoiding Isolation  Our society likes to think that it is compassionate and willing to rehabilitate people who are disabled or suffering from chronic diseases. The reality is that disabled people are often shunted aside or even shunned. Employers and co-workers can keep their distance. Family and friends, attentive and sympathetic at first, can drift away over time as they deal with their own problems and live their own lives. Everyone can feel uncomfortable talking to someone who is seriously ill, not knowing quite how to relate or what to say. At times like these, it is easy to feel abandoned and lonely. 
    Even when you are surrounded by caring friends and family, you may feel cut off. Any life-threatening disease can put you in touch with the essential aloneness humans feel when contemplating their own mortality .