Facing a New Cancer Diagnosis
They might be the three most frightening words you can hear from you doctor: you have cancer. When you’re first diagnosed with cancer, your body and your emotions can feel like they’ve gone into shock. You might have fatigue that doesn’t improve after a night’s sleep, unexplained changes in your appetite, and physical discomfort you can’t describe or predict. Your mind might be overwhelmed by questions, fears, and decisions you never expected to face. Your attention might be pulled between medical appointments, test results, and your fears about the impact of the diagnosis on your family, your work, and sense of self. Even as your loved ones try to be supportive, you might feel isolated, unsure how to talk about what you’re going through.
Or maybe you’ve experienced the opposite, and the uncertainly of the moment has left you distant and numb.
There are many ways to take back control of your physical and emotional health, all of them backed by research.
Eir Centre offers Facing a New Diagnosis, a group program to address the emotional and physical jolt of a cancer diagnosis. The program will give you the resources and resilience to get past the shock and the dread, and keep yourself whole as you begin active treatment.
The Facing a New Diagnosis Program is built upon Eir Centre’s Five Pillars of Cancer Care. It’s a series of group education and active wellness sessions consisting of:
Week One: Understanding Cancer Care
Navigating the Canadian cancer care system, and the roles of the many health professionals you’re bound to encounter
Preparing yourself for surgery, chemotherapy, and/or radiation treatment
Anticipating the impacts and side effects of cancer treatment
Week Two: Managing the Anxiety and Emotional Upheaval
Distress tolerance skills
Communicating with loved ones around your illness and emotional state
Week Three: Nourishing Your Body through Cancer Treatment
Understanding the vital role of nutrition while undergoing cancer treatment
Anticipating the effects of treatment on your appetite and digestion
Optimizing your diet while undergoing cancer treatment
Week Four: Movement as Therapy
How movement and exercise aid your healing and recovery
How to adapt to the inevitable fluctuations in your energy and strength
Week Five: Building Peer Support—You Are Not Alone!
Learning from peers who’ve been through cancer treatment
The importance of connection in your path to recovery
