Well, hey, folks!  This is a big week!  It is the anniversary of my first podcast a year ago.  So exciting!  I can’t believe I have done 48 episodes – at the start, I couldn’t imagine doing the first four, and now I am done 12 times that!  I know many of you feel like we are old friends at this point, but for the people who are new, I want to tell you how this all came to be.  As most of you know, I am a radiation oncologist, and I have been in practice for more than 20 years.  About 5 years ago, I was struggling in my life.  After having years of fertility treatments, and then ultimately, 4 kids, I was slowly gaining weight.  I thought this was from not exercising and really loving food.  I was fighting with my kids, and always irritated with my spouse.  I was feeling burnt out at work.  I blamed most of this on being too busy and feeling sluggish from my weight.  I knew I needed a change, but...

You are listening to best life after cancer, episode number 54.  Today we are talking about the science of fear and also something I just learned about, but made SO MUCH sense why people struggle to change their thoughts after cancer.

But first, I am going to tell you a little story from when I was a kid.  We lived out in the country with a stream about a quarter of a mile behind our house.  There were no other kids for miles. so my brother and I hung out a lot, even though he was 6 years younger than me.  At the end of a long winter, there was a day that was that perfect, really warm and beautiful spring day.  My brother and I were outside and headed to the stream.  We had spend time when things were frozen making a tree bridge across it.  We got down to the stream and onto the logs.  I was in the middle, with him right behind me, when I realized there were 3 snakes coiled up at the end of the logs in the sun - likely just emerging...

If you are new, I’m Dr. Deborah Butzbach. For 20 years, I have had the pleasure of caring for cancer patients as a radiation oncologist, and recently, I also got a life coaching certification. This is helping me care for my patients even better, and now I am branching out to share my wisdom with all cancer patients. So, welcome! If you are looking for more help, you can find it in three places: My Website,  Best Life After Cancer Podcast or my Facebook Page and private group: Best Life After Cancer MD FB Page. 

It makes sense that people have lots of negative emotions after a cancer diagnosis. The most common ones I see are grief or loss, fear or anxiety, a sense of pervasive emptiness, or guilt. Grief most commonly involves the loss of the life you thought you were going to have, now replaced by one with a new medical diagnosis, physical limitations and mental challenges. In many cases this is also grief over significant changes in your body, especially in...

You are listening to Best Life After Cancer Episode 33.

Well, hey, friends! Crazy times, right? Looting in the capital building, a presidential impeachment, a global pandemic coming up on a year in duration, I mean you can’t make this stuff up! Sounds like an end times sci fi movie. Lots and lots of people have a lot of worries about all of this, and for my Best Lifers, that is just the cherry on top of their cancer sundae. You know what I mean, right? For me, I worry about my all of my people, family, friends, patients, about depression and the effect of isolation as people go through treatment. So, I wanted to spend some time today talking about worry and how it affects emotional wellbeing after cancer.

So what is worry? Worry is an indulgent emotion. What does that mean? It is an emotion that doesn’t move us forward or create results in our lives. It keeps us stuck. Really, it is a habit that we get into and can’t find our way out. The reason it doesn’t...