How to live a life with a cancer diagnosis

Cancer Crusaders Club
35th Annual Christmas Get-together
December 4, 2022
ROJOSON LECTURETTE
How to Live a Life with a Cancer Diagnosis
(ROJoson TPORs – Thoughts, Perceptions, Opinions and
Recommendations)

How to live a life with a cancer diagnosis
How does or how should one live a life after a cancer diagnosis?
Here are my personal TPORs (thoughts, perceptions, opinions and
recommendations).

“After a cancer diagnosis” may mean the following:
• Right after diagnosis that one is said to truly have a cancer in the
body
• During treatment
• After treatment
• During the surveillance (monitoring) period
• During the time cancer recurrence has occurred
• During the near-end-of-life stage

Note that psychological distresses (emotional sufferings) can be
seen in the following phases of the cancer journey:
• PHASE OF DIAGNOSIS
• PHASE OF TREATMENT (DURING, RIGHT AND/OR SOON AFTER
TREATMENT)
• PHASE AFTER TREATMENT (IN REMISSION)
• PHASE WHEN THERE IS RECURRENCE OF CANCER
• PHASE DURING NEAR-END-OF-LIFE
This is the reason for this talk on “How to live a life with a cancer
diagnosis.”

“How to live a life”
will be operationally defined as
how to live or continue to live a
functional and meaningful earthly life
after a cancer diagnosis.

A lot of times, after a cancer diagnosis,
people or patients have ceased or have a hard time
living a functional and meaningful earthly life.
This is mainly due to uncontrolled ANXIETY AND DEPRESSION
which in turn are due to
• uncontrolled fear
• sadness
• personal apprehensions
• psychosocial apprehensions

In the past Cancer Crusaders Club Annual Get-Togethers,
I have identified and mentioned the following which I think are key
coping tactics against the psychological distresses of cancer patients:
• Acceptance of the cancer diagnosis
• Intentional living plan in the light of cancer
diagnosis
• Trust in a competent and compassionate physician
• Spiritual trust
• Support from loved ones and significant others
• Cancer journey sharing

This year, my lecturette on how to deal with cancer, I will expound
on ACCEPTANCE AND INTENTIONAL LIVING PLAN as coping tactics
against the psychological distresses of cancer patients.
Before anything else, I like to emphasize that there must be
AWARENESS then ACCEPTANCE before the formulation of the
INTENTIONAL LIVING PLAN.
ILP

AWARENESS
At least of your cancer diagnosis and its prognosis
with correlation to your purpose and estimated lifespan on earth.

After
AWARENESS

ACCEPTANCE
Acceptance of cancer has long been recognized as playing a critical
role in the psychological adjustment to the illness (also true for
other diseases).
It is effective in reducing the patient’s distress with cancer.

What is ACCEPTANCE?
Acceptance is emotion-focused coping that involves acknowledging
the reality of the illness, learning to live with it, and engaging in
attempts to address it (Carver et al., 1989).
That is why I said there must be acceptance first before the
formulation of the intentional living plan.

What is ACCEPTANCE?
Other definitions of acceptance
Acceptance of illness - as a process of value change by which the
patient accepts the losses related to the illness while maintaining a
sense of self-worth. This process may involve exploring new
meanings or possibilities in life based on one’s existing values and
strengths (Wright, 1983).

What is ACCEPTANCE?
Acceptance - as a willingness to be present with one’s illness-related
thoughts, feelings, and bodily sensations without judging or making
unnecessary attempts to control them (Hayes, Jacobson, Follette, &
Dougher, 1994).

What is ACCEPTANCE?
Acceptance is a realistic way of living with illness; that is, an
accepting patient does not judge, avoid, or deny the illness, but
continues feasible engagement in everyday activities.(McCracken
and Eccleston 2003)

Acceptance differs from resignation (i.e., fatalism).

For cancer patients, resignation refers to considering the illness as
fate and believing that there is little or nothing one can do to change
or control the illness, its symptoms, and one’s quality of life (Livneh,
2000).
In other words, resignation refers to giving up and no longer striving
for a fulfilling life—choosing instead to remain helpless, hopeless,
and passive.

Research suggests that ACCEPTANCE is associated with LOWER
anxiety and depressive symptoms (e.g., Bussell & Naus,
2010; Peters, Goedendorp, Verhagen, van der Graaf, & Bleijenberg,
2014),
whereas RESIGNATION is associated with HIGHER anxiety and
depressive symptoms (Andreu et al., 2012; Hong, Wei, & Wang,
2015).

Acceptance also differs from a FIGHTING SPIRIT.
In the context of cancer, having a fighting spirit involves viewing the
illness as a challenge, maintaining an optimistic outlook, and
working towards beating the disease (Livneh, 2000; Watson et al.,
1988).
Although both acceptance and having a fighting spirit involve taking
an active stance, acceptance does not necessarily include efforts of
positive reframing or aiming to change the course of the disease.

Acceptance of cancer is MAKING PEACE with the
disease.
Letting Go but Not Giving Up and Accepting the Reality
of a Cancer Diagnosis!

Acceptance doesn’t mean that anyone is giving up.
Acceptance allows you to take control of your life and
focus on what’s most important to you.
Live on despite a cancer diagnosis!
Continue to live a functional and meaningful life!

So, my foremost advice is ACCEPTANCE as the coping tactic as this is
effective in reducing the patient’s distress with cancer.

After acceptance, make an INTENTIONAL LIVING PLAN. This will
constitute your plan of action for a meaningful cancer journey.
ILP

My operational definition of intentional living plan:
Intentional Living Plan (ILP) is a plan you make targeting a certain
number of years (guided by the prognosis of your cancer) in which
you write down things you intend or want to accomplish on your
graduation day (last day of your targeted year) which will make you
feel you have lived your life to the fullest; you have lived a
meaningful life; and you are contented and ready to die a happy
death. [Assumption and reality: all of us will die one day.]

Before making an intentional living plan, get the following
information from your trusted and compassionate physician: (Make
an intentional living plan with the answers in mind.)
• What kind of cancer do I have?
• Where is the cancer?
• Has it spread?
• Can my cancer be treated?
• What is the prognosis of my cancer? What is the chance that my
cancer can be “cured”?

• What other tests or procedures do I need?
• What are my treatment options? How will the treatment benefit
me?
• What can I expect during treatment? What are the side effects of
the treatment?
• What happens if I don’t get treatment?

• What is the surveillance plan after treatment?
• What can I do to prevent my cancer from coming back?
• How likely are my children or other family members to get
cancer?
• Others

• Intentional living plan promotes living with intention; living a
purposeful life.
• It will be your cancer journey plan.
• It will be your plan on how to live a life with a diagnosis of cancer.

ROJoson Template of Intentional Living Plan
My Intentional Living Plan (ILP)
PART I. Owner and Number of Years to Target for the
Intentional Living Plan.
OWNER OF INTENTIONAL LIVING PLAN (ILP):
NAME: Reynaldo O. Joson
Current Age: 70
From: Year ___2019_____ to _2024__2032_
From: Age ____70______ to _75___83___

My Intentional Living Plan (ILP)
PART I. Owner and Number of Years to Target
for the Intentional Living Plan.
NUMBER OF YEARS TO TARGET IN THE
INTENTIONAL LIFE PLAN: __5 yrs to 13 yrs__
If with STRETCH TARGET, specify the reasons.

PART II. People to include in Intentional Living Plan
Enumerate the names of other people (spouse / partner; children; and
significant others) you want to include in your Intentional Living Plan (ILP).
SPOUSE / PARTNER to be included in the ILP:
NAME: ________________________ Current Age: ____
CHILDREN to be included in the ILP:
NAME: ________________________ Current Age: ____
SIGNIFICANT OTHERS to be included in the ILP:
NAME: ________________________ Current Age: ____

Part III. Legacies (Answer the following questions
as indicated)
IF I WERE TO DIE AT ___75___83___ YEARS OLD
(AGE) OR IN _2024___2032__ (YEAR),
WHAT ARE THE LEGACIES THAT I WANT TO LEAVE
BEHIND FOR MY FAMILY AND FOR MY
COMMUNITY? [Be as specific as possible and
include a timeline or deadline.]

Part IV. FOR SPOUSE / PARTNER (Answer the
following questions as indicated)
(AGE) OR IN _2024___2032__ (YEAR),
WHAT WILL I DO FOR MY SPOUSE /
PARTNER? [Be as specific as possible and include
a timeline or deadline. Place NA if not
applicable.]

Part V. FOR CHILDREN (Answer the following questions
as indicated)
IF I WERE TO DIE AT ___75___83___ YEARS OLD (AGE)
OR IN _2024___2032__ (YEAR),
WHAT WILL I DO FOR CHILDREN [Be as specific as
possible and include a timeline or deadline. Place NA if
not applicable.]

Part VI. FOR SIGNIFICANT OTHERS (Answer the
following questions as indicated)
(AGE) OR IN _2024___2032__ (YEAR),
WHAT WILL I DO FOR MY SIGNIFICANT
OTHERS? [Be as specific as possible and include a
timeline or deadline. Place NA if not applicable.]

Part VII. FOR MYSELF (Answer the following questions as
indicated)
IF I WERE TO DIE AT ___75___83___ YEARS OLD (AGE) OR IN
_2024___2032__ (YEAR),
WHAT WILL I DO FOR MYSELF? [Be as speciifc as possible and
include a timeline or deadline. Include the following goals as
applicable: health; contentment; enjoyment; God or Creator;
financial; career; professional; social and relationship goal; etc.]

Part VIII. PREPARING FOR A HAPPY DEATH (Answer the following
questions as indicated)
IF I WERE TO DIE AT ___75___83___ YEARS OLD (AGE) OR IN
_2024___2032__ (YEAR),
WHAT WILL I DO TO PREPARE FOR A HAPPY DEATH (CONTENTED AND READY TO
LEAVE THIS EARTH)? [Be as specific as possible and include a timeline or
deadline.]
Signature
Date First Accomplished:
Date Reviewed and Updated:

Having a well-formulated INTENTIONAL LIVING PLAN in the light of
cancer can contribute to
• BEING HEALTHY and NOT CRIPPLED AS LONG AS POSSIBLE
• BEING PRODUCTIVE
• HAVING PEACE OF MIND
• BEING CONTENTED
• ENJOYING LIFE
• BEING HAPPY IN LIFE
• REACHING THE REALISTIC LONGEVITY TARGETS
• BEING READY TO FACE CURTAIN CALL (DEATH)

So, my advice is to have acceptance of cancer as the first step in
living a life with cancer so as to live a functional and meaningful
earthly life as long as possible.
Make peace with the cancer disease or cancer diagnosis.
Let go but not giving up.
Continue to live a functional and meaningful earthly life as long as
possible through your well-formulated intentional living plan.

How to live a life with a cancer diagnosis

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