As they age, some men face one of their worst fears. Prostate cancer, something that is neither fun nor easy to live with. It can be easy to feel as if you’re all alone in your struggle without a single person that fully understands what you’re living through. Fortunately, there are many prostate cancer support groups available to help you out with these kinds of feelings. There are a variety of groups that you can choose from, but how exactly can these groups be beneficial for your fight against cancer? There are a lot of ways it can do just that, as a matter of fact.
Many people might not see the utility of such groups, but sometimes that just comes from not having the facts in front of them. In fact, even those that don’t end up attending cancer support groups are able to see exactly how useful they are for others after learning the facts about them. Let’s take a little dive into the world of cancer support groups so you can better decide if one would be good for you and your own personal journey. Whether you decide it is or not, it’s still an interesting subject to go over.
Learn New Coping Strategies with People Who Can
One of the biggest reasons people seek out cancer support groups is to learn new ways to cope. Cancer is a big thing to have to deal with, and it’s more than understandable to not know how to cope with the diagnosis on top of the countless doctors’ office visits and treatments that you’ll need to go through. That can all have a negative effect on your psyche, which can make your fight against cancer even harder. Good morale is key to getting through this fight.
When you join a cancer support group, you’re surrounded by people that are dealing with very similar situations to your own. That means that you’ll be in a room chock-full of people that completely understand where you’re coming from. Many people that have already won their fight against cancer actually still attend their cancer support groups, hoping that they can help someone through their fight. This allows you not only to see that you aren’t alone, but that there is hope that you’ll make it through the other side of this. Such hope is greatly beneficial and can make everything about this process go a lot more smoothly.
Get Some Help Taking Care of Loose Ends
One of the most common things that goes through someone’s mind when they are diagnosed with cancer is “how will my family stay afloat?” and it is an incredibly valid question. Fortunately, there are cancer support groups that are designed specifically to help you answer this question and get all of your affairs in order. These groups bring a lot of peace of mind to many cancer patients that get anxious about how things will go if the worst happens, and it’s understandable. There are a lot of things to think about and a lot of things that need to be handled, after all.
Whether your concern is finances, medical bills, or even childcare, there are people in these groups that are available to help you strategize to find some way to make sure that everything can be taken care of. It can be incredibly overwhelming to try and get these things planned out alone on top of everything else that comes with cancer treatment, and many people find it reassuring to know that there’s a group of people around to help them the best they can to help you get everything sorted out properly.
Choose the Format that Works Best for You
While some people benefit more from talking about their feelings in a group setting, others simply want to make sure that things can be taken care of if the worst comes. There are even some people that attend both types of groups because that’s simply what they need. If it works for them, it works for them. But what about people that would prefer not to be in a group setting at all? Some people simply don’t enjoy being in that kind of environment, and forcing themselves could make things worse.
There are a few options for those kinds of people. If they really just don’t want to interact with a group of people at all, they can try for a private therapist to help them figure out their mental stuff or even an advisor to help them deal with monetary issues. These meetings are one on one so it completely eliminates the group setting that people have an issue with. That can be a great thing for certain people, but other people just don’t want to be physically in a group for whatever reason.
If that’s someone’s preference, they’re still in luck. You can pretty easily find completely online cancer support meetings that come in a few different forms. The most commonly used form is a group video call. If you’ve used Zoom for work or anything else, you’re probably familiar with how these would work. Some groups are voice only, and others are text only. That means that you can find the support you need no matter how little you feel like directly interacting with other people. At the end of the day, no matter what your preferences are there’s an option for you.
No Stress Process to Find and Join
Many people that are considering getting into a cancer support group are scared off by the thought that finding a good group and getting involved will be a whole ordeal. Fortunately, this assumption is incorrect. It’s actually really easy to get involved in a cancer support group, and you could easily find one in a matter of hours. Even shorter than that if you already know where to look. It is good to make sure you know exactly what you’re looking for in a cancer support group before you get started looking, but that’s easy enough.
We’ve actually already covered most of what you need to consider. What do you need most in a cancer support group? How would you want to be supported and support others? After you get that figured out, there are still a few more things that you should try thinking about. For instance:
- How often would you like the group to meet? Different groups meet at different frequencies, and there’s a good chance that you’ll be able to find one that meets your needs perfectly.
- How much does it cost to attend a meeting? Some meetings have fees to keep them running and others are completely free. Your insurance might cover cancer support group meetings, so it could be worth asking them about it if you want to go to a paid meeting but can’t fit it into your budget.
- Once you’ve won your fight, would you like the opportunity to continue attending? Most groups will have this as an option, but it’s definitely something that’s worth checking on before you start meeting up with them if it’s something you’re particularly interested in.
Every group operates a little differently, so be prepared to talk to organizers so you can be sure you have all of the information you need about any particular group upfront. All of these details are incredibly important for making sure that you find the right group for you. Most organizers are more than happy to answer these questions because they also want to make sure that you end up in the best possible group for you. Now that you know exactly what you need to think of before you start looking, let’s get into how you can actually go about finding a good cancer support group. It’s actually pretty simple.
Most people just pick one from a list they get from their doctor or hospital. All you need to do to get this list is ask and they’ll be happy to give it to you. Typically, all of the meetings that you’ll find on this list are going to be in person. If you want to find something online, you’ll need to look online. Fortunately enough, there are tons of websites out there that can help you do that. It can take as little as a few minutes if you get lucky, but usually no longer than a day or two.
Find the Support You Need
Going through cancer is scary. Many people even struggle with feeling like it’s really happening. For many cancer patients, it’s easily one of the most traumatic events of their life. There’s a lot of support out there for cancer patients if they decide to take advantage of it, and you can find great support groups just by doing a little digging. Doing what you need to make sure you’re feeling as comfortable as possible during your fight against cancer is important. The higher your morale is for the process, the easier things will seem while you do them.
***On the Aepios platform, members gain support from peers nationwide by sharing valuable real-world experiences, treatments, and outcomes for an expanding number of medical conditions.***