*19/40/1*

1 litre water

3 fresh beetroot, chopped

2 onions, chopped

3 cloves garlic, crushed

1 tablespoon tamari

Boil the water and add chopped beetroot. Cook until the beetroot is soft and water has turned a beautiful pink colour. Add chopped onions, garlic and tamari. Add sea salt for flavour.

Chicken Lime Soup

1 litre vegetable stock

200 grams chicken breasts, skinless

100 grams tomatoes, chopped

100 grams onions, diced

2 chillies to flavour

125 ml fresh lime juice

1 handful green beans

1 handful snow peas

Bring the vegetable stock to the boil and gently poach the chicken breasts in the stock until they are tender. Remove chicken from the stock, allow to cool slightly and then shred it. Add the shredded chicken to the stock, together with diced tomatoes, onions, chillies, lime juice, beans and snow peas. Bring the liquid to the boil and simmer until vegetables are tender. Serve hot.

Chicken Vegetable Soup

800 ml vegetable stock

100 grams organic chicken thighs, skinless and shredded (do not throw away the chicken bones)

6 shitake mushrooms

2 cloves garlic, chopped

2 spring onions, chopped

Pinch sea salt

1 teaspoon tamari

1 teaspoon corn flour

1 zucchini, sliced

1 carrot, chopped

1 handful basil, chopped

Bring the vegetable stock to the boil and add shredded chicken, chicken bones, shitake mushrooms, chopped garlic and chopped spring onions. Season the stock with sea salt (pinch) and tamari, and simmer for 3 minutes. Thicken the soup with corn flour. Add the sliced zucchini and carrot. Cook until the carrot is tender and then remove from the heat. Remove the chicken bones. Garnish with basil and serve. The minerals from the chicken bones will boost your body’s immune system and help fight colds and the flu.

*223/34/5*

Remember that people who have never had cancer usually focus most of their energies on the present and on the immediate future, and only occasionally on the distant future. Parents with very small children spend little time picturing their children as teenagers or young adults concerned about career and family life. Active, middle-aged people spend little time wondering or worrying about what event or illness will precipitate their death. Even very elderly people who are active and involved in the world around them focus on the immediate future.

When you catch yourself imagining bad outcomes to plans for the future, consciously adjust the picture in your mind to a good outcome. If you cannot do this, turn it off. You are not ready to deal with the future. Counseling may help you to sort out what fears are making it difficult for you to picture the future and to learn how to tame those fears.

Planning for the future does not control the future. It helps you live today and tomorrow. Planning to watch a special show on television or visit with a friend allows you the pleasure of anticipation and gives you a little foothold on the future. If it does not come to pass, little is lost.

All cancer treatment seeks to strike the best balance between the cure or control of the original cancer and the prevention of complications from the therapy.

If too little cancer therapy is administered in the hope of sparing patients late effects, too many people will die from treatable or curable cancer because of undertreatment. Giving high-dose cancer therapy to everyone in the hope of avoiding undertreatment for the original cancer runs the risk that too many people will die from their treatment or survive with an unacceptably compromised quality of life.

Finding the optimal treatment for each individual patient is like walking a tightrope. Too little cancer treatment for the individual may mean dealing with persistent or recurrent cancer. Too much treatment may mean dealing with debilitating or life-threatening complications. Finding the right amount of treatment to maximize control or cure of your cancer and minimize treatment-related risks is a delicate balancing act.

Was My Treatment Worse Than My Original Disease?

No. If left untreated, most cancers will grow and cause symptoms such as pain, nausea, shortness of breath, and weakness. Uncontrolled cancer causes problems, such as bleeding, respiratory distress, bowel obstruction, infection, and malnutrition, that lead to death. No matter how difficult your cancer treatment, and no matter how many short- and long-term aftereffects you suffer from your treatment, your original cancer, if left untreated, would have become worse than your treatment.

You were treated aggressively to prevent your cancer from becoming a threat to your health and life. If you were diagnosed before you had any significant symptoms or problems, your treatment may have been worse than your early cancer. But it was not worse than the problems your cancer would have caused if it had not been arrested. Compare your treatment-related problems with those that would have developed with untreated cancer.

Why Did I Receive a Treatment That Has Known Late Effects?

Your cancer was a clear and present danger to your health and life. The treatment you received was felt to offer you the best chance of life, with an acceptable risk of future problems, given the treatment options available at the time you were diagnosed.

Your cancer treatments were given to you to protect you from the health- and life-threatening effects of untreated cancer.

Cancer treatments are improving daily. When you see better a safer treatments become available, remind yourself that they

•were not options for you at the time you were treated

• will be available for you if you ever need them in the future

• can be used to treat other people with your type of cancer

Your treatment decisions were based on the best information about the available choices. You did your best.

*57/32/2*

During the holidays you are bombarded by clichés and sayings found in greeting cards and in holiday songs. After your cancer experience sentiments like «Being with you is all that matters» or «I am happy to have today» trigger strong emotions, because they are meaningful and personal in a new way.

Thoughts about how the holiday might have been had your cancer not responded to treatment may be mixed with thoughts of how it might have been had you never gotten cancer in the first place. You may wonder how many holidays you have left to celebrate. You grieve for what you did lose, what you could have lost, and what you may still lose.

Although the treatment period may have been a blur, you can probably remember how your cancer affected this holiday during your treatment and thus be reminded of a time that you might prefer to forget.

Expect strong emotions on holidays. Let every holiday be a celebration of your life and what you do have.

*144/32/5*

Cancer treatment is expensive. For most people, cancer treatment strains financial resources and security because of

• the cost of the treatments

• the cost of the follow-ups

• the cost of extra help required

• the cost of accessories (wig, hospital bed, new clothes, or walking aids to accommodate physical changes)

• the lost income of the cancer survivor

• the lost income of the support person who may have taken time off to help

Cancer survivors worry about money because they worry about

• their future medical expenses

• paying their current outstanding bills (this may be the first time that they have expenses greater than their means)

• future family financial security

• difficulty in getting or keeping a job

• future financial needs from crises not related to cancer

Cancer survivors feel guilty about money because

• their cancer consumed financial resources and makes future resources uncertain

• they are often unable to contribute to the financial recovery for a while

• the topic of money, often taboo under normal circumstances, can be especially so under the strained circumstances of recovery

• they may sense resentment by others at the hardship •people feel they are supposed to be «above» worrying about money when health is at stake

What If I Am Feeling Guilty and Worried about Money?

Find out which of your concerns are real and which imaginary. Share your concerns and feelings about your money situation with your family. Shared feelings are always more manageable. You may find out that some of your concerns were unfounded, that you are in better financial shape than you thought, or that your family truly does not resent or worry about your expenses.

If the subject of money has created genuine tensions in your family, they need to be addressed. Share your thoughts and concerns with support people and counselors if need be. Figuring out the sources of the tensions and finding workable solutions to practical and emotional issues will minimize the added strain of worry over finances.

Find out what you can do to ease your financial burdens. Get advice from financial counselors, social workers, and support groups (call the Cancer Information Service on 131120 for contact details).

Deal with your present financial concerns, and let go of distant future financial concerns for now. If you have young children at home, the year after completion of cancer treatment is not the time to worry about their university education.

*117/32/5*