Will I Be Alive In 16 Months? (How To Handle Fear & Anxiety After Cancer)

Every day at dusk I take a walk around my neighborhood along winding horse trails and golden meadows filled with wildflowers. An occasional pine tree offers a sweet smell that reminds me of my childhood. As I contemplate my serene surroundings, I suddenly think “I wonder if I’ll be dead next year?”

If you didn’t know already, I just finished cancer treatment and my particular cancer is rather nasty. The average disease-free survival time is 16 months, while five-year survival hovers around seven to ten percent. The keywords here being “disease-free”, as in women who were told they were “cancer-free”, but died anyway.