Reclaiming your life after cancer

In the beginning, people diagnosed with cancer often feel like the fabled Dorothy, catapulted into a strange land where nothing is familiar and little makes sense.

But eventually cancer treatment ends, and a new chapter begins. This can be a time of relief, celebration, and hope. Yet many people who have finished treatment are surprised to find it is also a time of sadness and fear. The loss of an actively engaged treatment team can feel like losing a safety net, and arranging a new life with altered priorities can be daunting.

Lopez Island Hospice and Home Support is bringing Kathleen Albin, MS, to the island to speak about these issues in a presentation entitled “Reclaiming Your Life After Cancer,” Saturday, Sept. 27, 2 p.m. at the Lopez Island Library.

Albin, a licensed mental health counselor specializing in individual and group counseling for grief, traumatic loss, and terminal illness, will address some of the challenges faced in learning to live with the physical and emotional after-effects of cancer treatment on a day-to-day basis.

Elizabeth Landrum, PhD, president of the board of Lopez Island Hospice & Home Support and a psychotherapist of 30 years, is pleased to bring Albin to talk with the Lopez Island community on this important topic.  “As cancer affects one’s physical health, it also changes the ways a person feels, thinks, and functions in the world.  With less focus spent on appointments and treatment, the question of ‘what now?’ often arises,” says Landrum.  “People often find themselves living a new reality.”

Albin will discuss developing new skills for the new reality, and what “life after cancer” really means.

For more info, call the Lopez Island Hospice and Home Support office, 468-4446, or go to our website, lihhs.org.

Cancer support group

Lopez Island Hospice and Home Support is offering a free eight-week educational support group, organized and facilitated by Elizabeth Landrum, Ph.D., for people who have undergone or declined cancer treatment. It begins Oct. 14 and runs through Dec. 2.

The goals of the group are to provide emotional and social support, educate about coping strategies, re-examine life values, and encourage physically and mentally health lifestyles.

Topics will include:  relief and fear at the end of treatment, self-image and identity, life values and meaning, changing relationships, planning for the future, techniques for centering and relaxation, perspectives and priorities, and healing.

Space will be limited. Call the Lopez Island Hospice and Home Support office, 468-4446, by September 30 to arrange a telephone interview with Dr. Landrum to make sure this group is right for you.