Supporting your mental health
Improving your mental health and emotional wellbeing has been shown to give you the best surgery recovery, physically and mentally. Even if you think that you are coping well, simple strategies such as regular relaxation practice could help you cope with, and recover from, your upcoming surgery.
This video explains how to prepare psychologically for your surgery.
Courtesy of Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, 2024
In this next video you will hear about the experience of individuals with cancer and experts in emotional wellbeing about mental health and cancer. Please click on the video below to watch:
Keeping your mind and body calm
Relaxation practice
Calming your body through a regular relaxation practice is recommended for everyone going through major cancer surgery. This strategy is likely to be helpful even if you do not feel anxious or worried. Calming your body prepares it to best cope with major surgery.
Learn some relaxation exercises to help calm your body and mind. We recommend that you practice 10 to 15 minutes of relaxation exercises most days. This might include calming breathing, progressive muscle relaxation, guided imagery, or mindfulness meditation.
Cancer Mind Care: Anxiety
Video information about common anxiety in cancer. Please click on the video below to watch:
Cancer Mind Care: Anxiety, courtesy of Western and Central Melbourne Integrated Cancer Service, 2024.
Managing doubt and worry
It is normal to have some worries about your surgery, your recovery, or how well the treatment will work. Some worry and anticipation is normal and expected. But high levels of worry and anxiety can impact your well-being and recovery.
To manage any doubt or worry, you could try the following:
- Write a list of questions for your cancer team if you would like to know more about what to expect
- You might feel more anxious if you feel like you have lost control over your life or body. To deal with this, write a list of the things in your life that you can control, and a list of the things you cannot control. Focus on the things you can control. These might include following the nutrition and exercise guidelines in this booklet. For the things that you cannot control, acknowledge that these thoughts are difficult, and let them pass by on their own like a stormy cloud without trying to control them
- For each worry, write down all the options of how you can deal with this worry. Next, list the pros and cons of each option. Then choose the best option to take action on first, and write down the steps you need to take to complete this task.
Staying motivated
It is a good idea to take control over your own preparation and recovery in any way that you can.
You might like to write down the goals that you would like to achieve to give yourself the best possible recovery. It is important that these goals are specific and realistic. Writing the reasons behind these goals will help you stay motivated to achieve them.
Example:
Goal: Go for a 15-minute walk 3 times next week at 10am
Reason: This will get me fitter before my surgery, which will help my recovery and help me have more control over my experience
Other things you can do to help keep yourself motivated include:
- Develop a routine (e.g. schedule a walk at the same time each day)
- Use the support or accountability of others (e.g. have someone walk with you)
- Attend a supervised class (e.g. a supervised gym class with an exercise professional).
A template to help you set goals and support you achieving them can be found below.
Accessing additional support
Do you need additional support? Video information on accessing psychological support in cancer can be viewed by clicking on the video below: