The Crisis After the Cure

Five years out, you should feel better. You don't. You should have words for it. You don't have those either.

A study in BMC Cancer found that breast cancer survivors had HIGHER rates of depression and anxiety five to six years after diagnosis than they did 40 weeks in.

The distress didn’t peak during chemo and resolve. It built, year over year, fueled by recurrence fear and body changes and a social environment that had moved on. City of Hope (Emotional Health After Cancer Treatment) reports that more than 25% of long-term survivors experience clinical anxiety. Up to 25% experience clinical depression. Long after the bell has been rung.

This is the part of cancer your friends do not know exists. It isn’t in the brochures. It isn’t in the discharge instructions. There is no follow-up phone call about it.

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