Reasons To Document Your Experience With Cancer

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4 Reasons To Document Your Experience With Cancer
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• Social media and blogging is sometimes seen as a
  millennial vanity project. Young adults who tweet
  and post selfies are sometimes seen as
  self-obsessed and narcissistic, and celebrities
  who post photos of themselves and their daily
  goings on are seen as vapid and commercialized.
  If this is true, why is it then that so many
  cancer patients actually find relief in using
  social media and other forms of digital recording
  to document their ongoing struggle with the
  disease?
• Go on YouTube and top in cancer vlog and youll
  find numerous bloggers recording and sharing
  their experiences with cancer online for the
  world to see. Cancer patients share their truths
  online with millions of followers why cant you?

If youre of the mind that social media isnt for
you, consider these four reasons to document your
experience with cancer online.
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Its a healthy release

• Many cancer patients find that its hard to
  accurately communicate how theyre feeling with
  their family. Its a struggle of a variety of
  emotions that shift and intensify based on many
  factors, like the cancer prognosis or the
  likelihood of mortality. Feelings of grief,
  anguish, guilt, acceptance, sadness, relief are
  all mixed up inside of many cancer patients, and
  its extremely difficult to express all of these
  feelings in a way that can be understood. In many
  cases, its hard to know exactly how a cancer
  patient is feeling unless youve been there
  yourself.
• Cancer patients who take up writing down their
  thoughts and feelings find its a lot easier to
  organize their thoughts and feelings than just
  talking them out off the cuff. Recording private
  diaries in any kind of format can be a healthier
  way of getting out and assessing feelings than
  getting angry or frustrated with others or
  themselves. The more they document these
  feelings, the more a patient will begin to
  understand themselves its a sort of cathartic
  release.

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Its a way to help others

• Someone has just gotten diagnosed with cancer and
  they have no one in their family to ask for
  advice from. They may have tangential experience
  with cancer, but none of them have ever had it
  and they arent able to understand what the newly
  diagnosed patient is going through. Instead of
  looking for advice within their friends and
  family circle, the patient goes online to
  research their condition and how they feel.
• They find many different blogs of cancer patients
  explaining how they feel, what their treatment
  process is like and how theyre coping with the
  diagnosis. This comforts the new patient because
  they dont feel so alone anymore.
• Cancer blogs are a way of sharing experiences in
  a way that can benefit someone else. Not everyone
  out there has an empathetic shoulder to cry on,
  and being part of an understanding online
  community can help them keep hope and mental
  clarity during a trying time.

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It helps keep people connected

• Not everyone has the time to convey news
  directly. If a cancer patient lives with their
  spouse and children, right down the road from
  their parents, those are likely the people that
  will know almost immediately how the treatment is
  going and if any new developments arise. But what
  about family in another state? Friends that dont
  keep in touch outside of occasional Facebook
  comments?
• Blogging is a way to quickly share information
  with a network of people, including those a
  person may not be able to connect with outside of
  the Internet. Social media posts about cancer can
  be a quick way to share whats going on with
  those who want to know stranger or not.

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Its a memory tool

• If youre a cancer patient about to go through
  chemotherapy, you may not know that the treatment
  is notorious for causing lapses in memory. This
  symptom is even more prevalent in patients who
  are already susceptible to memory problems, like
  an alcoholic or the elderly.
• Even if chemotherapy doesnt reduce your short
  term memory, a cancer battle isnt actually
  something youll want to forget. You may feel
  like it would be best to forget the anguish that
  can come from cancer, but after youve beaten the
  disease, it can be empowering to revisit those
  memories and see how much stronger youve become.
• Cancer blogs can also be a valuable source of
  information for doctors and other medical
  professionals. If something happens to a cancer
  patient and theyre unresponsive, a family member
  may be able to look through the documented
  experiences and find an answer they need like
  when the patient last went in for blood work, or
  how often theyve been taking their prescribed
  medications.

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• In short, how and why you record your experience
  with cancer is up to you if you record it at
  all. Just remember that there are many different
  and good reasons to keep a record of your
  experience with cancer, and perhaps trying it out
  wouldnt be a bad idea.

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