Lung cancer is not normally detected until it is in its late stages, especially in people who did not smoke prior to their cancer diagnosis, or people who were considered to be at a low risk for lung cancer. According to the American Lung Association, only fifteen percent of the cases of lung cancer are caught in the early stages before the cancer spreads out of the lungs.

Mentally learning to live with Lung Cancer

Physically, you have to learn to live with the medications, the symptoms, the pain, and the fact that lung cancer changes what you can and cannot do. Mentally, you have to learn to accept the diagnosis, accept the possibilities, live with the realities, and still enjoy life.

It is important that you have a counselor that can help you learn to live with the condition of lung cancer, and not just prepare to die from the disease. A patient that has had their lung cancer detected while it is still contained within the lungs has to learn to look at their disease as a chronic condition the way that people with diabetes have to look at their disease. You must learn to do what you need to do in order to treat the symptoms, and make the necessary life changes so you can delay the worsening of the condition, and get up each day and make the best possible choices.

Planning for the Future when you have Lung Cancer

It is actually easier to say that there is no chance of a future than it is to plan for a future that is slightly uncertain. If you allow the uncertainty to rule you, then you are apt not to live your remaining years, but instead you will remain in a stagnate state of suspension.

You have to look at the reality of your situation, and you may have to adjust the timeline you envisioned for your life, but you need to plan to live, and live by your plan.

You may have to retire from your job earlier than you had previously planned. You might still be able to work with your lung cancer, but you might want to take the time to be with your family, and to spend enjoying life. Life is not all about money, and working, it is about the people you love and sharing time with those people.

Make Short Term Plans

If you are living with a chronic condition, then you know that at any time you might not be able to do some of the things you want to do, or that you are planning on doing. Instead of planning a trip that you want to take three years from now, try planning something you can do in the next few months.

If you do want to save for the dream vacation, you have always wanted to take, then save your money in the bank, and if you buy tickets get trip insurance that will reimburse you if you cannot take the trip.