We cancer patients talk about having a "new normal" when we are done with cancer, now I'm starting t

SuckItCancer
SuckItCancer Member Posts: 24
edited April 2020 in General Cancer
about this virus. I saw one post that was talking about how their life would be back to normal, but what parts of that normal did they want to keep. So I'm wondering, for those that have already finished treatments and have moved on, do you think this virus thing is going to have a lasting effect on your life, will you change things, or since you've been through cancer already is this nothing much for you?

For me, I see people talking about after this is done, we won't look at things the same, we will enjoy our family, we will not take things for granted. Don't we cancer patients pretty much have the same outlook?

Comments

  • LiveWithCancer
    LiveWithCancer Member Posts: 470
    edited April 2020
    Provided my family and I make it through coronavirus with no one succumbing to it, I don't expect it will impact my life appreciably in the long run. I have always been a hoarder because I hate to go to the grocery store ... in the future, I will probably be even worse, since so many items are so difficult (impossible so far) to come by these days.

    I do think, though, that many families are going to be very significantly impacted by this virus and the resultant shutdowns. Livelihoods have been ripped away (necessarily, in my opinion, but gone nonetheless), all too many will lose loved ones ... and some may survive but with lingering issues (I don't know if that's true, just guessing it could cause some lung damage for those who get sick enough for the ventilator).

    Cancer and the death of my only child made me understand how precious life is before the advent of the coronavirus. So, yeah, I totally agree with you that we cancer patients have already realized what is really important in life.
  • BobsProstate
    BobsProstate Member Posts: 56
    edited April 2020
    I think any life altering or life threatening issue will change their future life and give a "new normal" as it's described. I do also see the similarities in cancer and this virus. Change is change, no matter why it's changing. So I think we are all going to be changed whether it from cancer or something else. Our job will be to adjust, adapt, and overcome.
  • Bengal
    Bengal Member Posts: 518
    edited April 2020
    Anecdote: My sister and I were driving through town just before Christmas. The weather was horrible, snow and wind. The streets and sidewalks were slushy and slippery. We noticed a lady we knew struggling along the sidewalk with her arms full of packages. We pulled over and offered her a ride home. She eagerly got into the car and began to wax eloquent about the wonders of Christmas. The beauty of the season and how the goodness and kindness of people other helping people shone. She ended this beautiful soliloquy, to our stunned amazement with the statenent, "after it's over; same old shit!".

    I'm sorry to say it but I believe after this crisis is over, it may take awhile for people to revert back but......we'll be seeing the "same old shit". Human nature is what it is.
  • Dawsonsmom
    Dawsonsmom Member Posts: 99
    edited April 2020
    We thought that 9/11 would forever change us but about the only lasting changes seem to be trying to get on an airplane. Time will certainly tell.
  • Carool
    Carool Member Posts: 787
    edited April 2020
    I think that it’ll be a very long time (years, maybe) before things go back to a semblance of how they were before — IF they go back at all. Here in NYC, everything will be very different. We have so many restaurants that may never reopen completely. Landlords (residential or stores and restaurants) won’t be able to charge the high rents they’ve grown accustomed to getting. And the fear of the virus returning, or of a new virus, will linger, much as it does for us cancer survivors.

    The repercussions of all of this will be enormous. We probably can’t even envision accurately how things will be.

  • centered1
    centered1 Member Posts: 23
    edited April 2020
    I know one thing. If anyone on the face of the earth can deal with, and overcome this, it is the group of people on this website. We are the strongest, most courageous, butt-kickers in the world.
  • BoiseB
    BoiseB Member Posts: 225
    edited April 2020
    The cancer new normal was individual (I had never really been normal). Covid19 has touched every individual and soon to be born individuals on the planet. Those factors will never change. But there are also things that were hiding in yesterdays "normal" that were changing. Devastating wildfires have become our new normal. Brutal winter storms have become our new normal.

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