Saturday 26 May 2018

Weekly Discussion Summary ~ Goal Setting

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"....if we can set small, attainable goals, which we then achieve, we can increase our resilience."

This week, in our discussion, we talked about goal-setting and set ourselves at least one but no more than two goals that we wanted to achieve over the course of the next week.

Naz told us that paradoxically, it is small goals that are the ones that are the often the most unattainable.

Why?

Not because they are too 'big' to attain, but because they are too small (and achievable), they tend to end up in the back seat, because there is always tomorrow........

and the next day....

and the day after....

Because we can always come back to them, and we want to plan and focus on the bigger goals, we work hard towards achieving them.

Naz told us that research shows that the brain's response to the achievement of smaller, frequent goals is far greater than the reward that is processed from achieving big (hard to attain) goals.

Naz explained that the feedback from attaining smaller goals leads to greater connectivity between those regions in the brain that play a huge role in something called 'reward processing' - generating satisfaction, a sense of achievement and accomplishment - which in turn improves our well-being. As smaller goals are easier to attain, and can be planned more frequently, the accumulative effect on the brain is a booster, and reinforcer, for more positive reinforcement leading to greater reward being processed by the brain. This, in turn makes us feel better about ourselves.

Simply put, if we can set small, attainable goals, which we then achieve, we can increase our resilience.

So go on, set yourself one or two goals and join us in sharing your progress.

If you are a woman living in the UK with a breast cancer diagnosis and you would like to join our private group please send us a private message via https://www.facebook.com/resilienceinbreastcancer/



Monday 14 May 2018

Weekly Discussion Summary ~ Cancer Anniversaries

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"Cancer is not only a date in our past, it is an experience we must take forwards with us. Whether we like it or not we must find a way to live with the uncertainty that becomes the background music to our lives. We take with us the myriad emotions of cancer - fear, helplessness, loss, despair, anger - whose voices become louder and louder when we are at our most fragile."

Instead of the usual summary,  Tamsin decided to turn the Sunday discussion on cancer anniversaries into an open letter blog for the Huffington Post. I am sure you will agree that the result is a very powerful and moving piece. 

https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/an-open-letter-to-any-woman-facing-a-cancer-anniversary_uk_5af85268e4b08921ee1612e8

If you are a woman living in the UK with a breast cancer diagnosis and you would like to join our private group please send us a private message via Facebook https://www.facebook.com/resilienceinbreastcancer/https://www.facebook.com/resilienceinbreastcancer/

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Saturday 5 May 2018

Weekly Discussion Summary ~ Chemo Brain Top Trumps!

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If only we could forget about chemo-brain.....

In our discussion this week, we played "Chemo-brain Top Trumps" and shared our brain lapses and tried to out-do each other!

Chemo-brain is one of our most engaging discussion topics because it feels so real, so alive, so forgetful. If only we could ever forget about forgetting.....

Oh, the joys of forgetting! But no, it's there, every day, just when we want to emphasise something important, just when we want to focus and concentrate on a line of argument, just when we want to name something, remember a name, or flag up an important point....

Chemo-brain, it emerged, affects us all, irrespective of whether we have primary or secondary breast cancer. Those of us who have not had chemotherapy also experience chemo-brain. We shared how often we run into a room to collect something, and yes, we've forgotten what it was as soon as we enter the room. We lose track of where we've put our keys, leave messages for ourselves or just occasionally, we might call our partner the wrong name! Whether our lapses are small or are large, they arise because of our inability to hold something (yes, it can be small) in our working memory. It can be funny, but usually it is hard, sometimes upsetting and very undermining of our confidence.

Why does chemo-brain happen?

Naz explained that chemo-brain happens after diagnosis and before treatment even begins. Most of the studies show that there are reductions in gray and white matter in the brain in areas that support cognitive functions such as working memory, attention and concentration. This is due to the impact of trauma, and the because the worries and fears that occupy our working memory take precedence, our brains end up having to work harder in the long run. We find that we take longer, we make more errors, we feel sluggish, and our cognitive functions are slow. The effects of chemo-brain are amplified through chemotherapy induced cognitive decline, as we have discussed before, and it's thought hormones may also impact on cognitive functioning.

Our discussion highlighted stress and fatigue make chemo-brain much, much worse and we feel we can become SO incoherent that we lose the ability to speak.

There's no doubt that chemo-brain was prevalent for all of us. Particularly hard is the lack of understanding from our families who unintentionally undermine us when our lapses stop being funny and start being annoying (as I'm writing this, my daughter has declined my suggestion that she write down the name of a book because "she has a memory"). We find it hard to talk about our chemo-brain at work and some of us shared that we feared being seen as less competent. Perhaps hardest of all, is the lack of wide recognition and support available to us which is why sharing and talking - and laughing when we can - is so important for our resilience.

If you are a woman living in the UK with a breast cancer diagnosis and you would like to join our private group please send us a private message via facebook: https://www.facebook.com/resilienceinbreastcancer/


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