The only way out of this situation is to either hide the fact of your cancer or make sure your family and friends understand your disease and treatment. You may even want to include some of them in your consultations with your doctor so they can become part of your "informed" support team. This may also help your doctor, for, from the doctor's point of view, many of the problems in communication come from the family—the husband or wife, the sister or brother, the cousin or friend who has heard about a cure somewhere or about someone who's had better treatment. By making sure that all interested parties are kept informed, everyone can focus their energies and efforts in the most constructive channels.
Overcoming a Loss of Self-Esteem Your self-esteem can be threatened by the very idea of having cancer. Unfortunately, it's not unusual to feel that if you were somehow a better or more complete person you wouldn't have been stricken in the first place or that the cancer is some sort of divine punishment.
Well-meaning family and friends may bring you books that give the message that you brought about your own cancer through some trait in your personality and if you really want to do so, you can cure your cancer through changing your basic personality structure.
These are all superstitious beliefs that, sad to say, still cling to the word cancer. But having cancer doesn't mean that you are unworthy in any way or that you are guilty of some terrible wrongdoing. Cancer can happen to anyone. It will happen to almost one in every three Canadians.
