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Perhaps the focus needs to adjust a bit
Oncologists have, quite rightly, been focussed on survival and I don't think that they really know what to do about all of the long-term treatment related effects. It is only really now, over four years after diagnosis, that I am coming to see that a fair chunk of the difficulties I still have are down to a real sadness about being plunged into menopause about a decade before I should have had it. That and the sense of no longer being able to get back to excellent health, even though the cancer seems to be gone, because the treatments took too much out of me (especially a fair bit of bone mineral density).
Then there is effect of a long period of fear as well. I was reminded of the Bruce Springsteen line 'Can't start a fire, worrying about your little world falling apart.' I felt like that for a long time.
When I was diagnosed their seemed to be more impetus, thanks to Lance Armstrong, behind the idea that the long-term needs of cancer patients needed to be better addressed. That seems to have died down, with even the Lance Armstrong Foundation focusing more on helping more people survive.
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