Hello WhatNext! I wanted to share a community survey that we put together with the help of the team over at Patient Worthy. The survey covers aspects such as what you like best about WhatNext, what could be improved, added, fixed and more. We're also seeking advice from some of our cancer support and patient group partners at Patient Worthy to see what has worked for their communities. This survey will be vital feedback as planning for the future of WhatNext moves forward. We want to make...

Immunotherapy is becoming more prevalent for the treatment of cancer as researchers, through clinical trials, discover more types of cancer that respond to immunotherapy.

We, as patients, are still a little bit baffled by how medication can turn on our immune system to kill our cancer. We’ve heard, through the grapevine, that immunotherapy treatment is “much easier” than chemo. For most patients, immunotherapy treatments are easier to tolerate, but immunotherapy does have side effects.

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A Guest Post By Jackie Edwards

How Celebrations Change After A Cancer Diagnosis

Palliative care provides relief for 90% of people living with late stage cancer, which leaves patients free to enjoy life as they always have. This means that you will likely have the privilege of celebrating your birthday, wedding anniversary, Christmas, or any other holiday which you normally mark annually. The cancer diagnosis might diminish your mood to partake in such occasions, but these events are more...

When we have cancer, we may be prone to “put our lives on hold” or hit the “pause” button on life. But we live every day … regardless of whether we have cancer or not. 

Here are some New Year’s Resolutions for you to consider:

• Get out of the house more often. If you don’t do anything but walk out to the mailbox every day, that’s a good start. You might see a neighbor and be sociable too.
• Appreciate and enjoy your friends and family. Maybe not everyone in your circle of friends and...

We often hear these words, “Living our best life as a cancer patient.” But what does this mean?

Living my best life means living to the fullest … given my abilities, potential and current situation. It means that we don’t put off our hopes and dreams and find excuses for not doing them. Living our best is living up to our potential, but it also means that we will find ways to adapt to changes that occur in our life.

When Cancer Comes to Visit

So many of us hit the “pause” button when we...

Can You Drink Alcohol After Cancer Treatment?

The number of people surviving cancer is expected to continue to rise in the US in the following years. This is largely thanks to early detection and effective treatment. When people undergo cancer treatment, they can often feel that their life is on hold and cannot do the simple things they enjoy, such as enjoying a glass of wine with friends. Alcohol can interact with chemotherapy drugs, while also worsen some of the side effects of...

The diagnosis of cancer is traumatic and life-altering, but we work through our fears and begin treatment. Some treatment periods are only three or four months while others may require a year or more. And once we’ve completed our treatment, we face five years of surveillance to detect a recurrence at its earliest stage.

Every cancer survivor will admit that it is a daunting challenge to learn how to live again after treatment ends. We remember our cancer treatment because of its lingering...

Survivor’s guilt happens to many people — survivors of an airplane crash where other passengers died, September 11th survivors of the Twin Towers, survivors of mass shootings. Most cancer survivors have never thought about survivor’s guilt . When we are diagnosed, we are focused on our treatment and hoping that we’ll survive. The thought that we’ll feel guilty about surviving never enters our minds.

But then, someone who was in treatment at the same time succumbs to their disease or they...

One of the things that we learn about cancer very soon into our treatment is that everyone is different — we respond differently to chemotherapy and radiation. Some of us recover rapidly from a surgical procedure while for others, it takes an extended time. Every person’s cancer experience is different, yet we share many of the same experiences.

We think, “Boy, I wish I had known about this.” Another patient says, “I had no idea this could happen.”

What are some of the things that we...

It’s the moment that we’ve waited for and dreamed of, our treatment is done. No more chemo or radiation — we’ve recovered from surgery. Our oncologist says to us, “We’ll see you in three months.” We go to check-out, expecting to feel elated, but it suddenly hits us that no one is going to checking on us for the next three months.

You may experience an entirely different set of emotions than you expected. Instead of turning cartwheels of joy, you might feel “let-down” or “unsettled.” After...