Patient perspective
The diagnosis aroused strong and dramatic feelings and made
patients demand immediate surgery. Death was the enemy
that had to be defeated. However, an unexpectedly short and
smooth recovery reduced the fear of cancer making it difficult
to apprehend that they had been treated for cancer. The
cancer could feel unreal, as if it had never been there, creating
an uncertainty of being well or not. Others suffered from
serious complications and bodily changes that constantly
reminded them of their cancer: