It may seem impossible right now, but if you can see your chemotherapy treatment as a positive force helping you heal, you will be opening the door for the chemo to work together with your immune system to kill the cancer cells. You may be filled with fear or worry about the chemotherapy being toxic. You may doubt that you are strong enough to get through it. But by befriending your chemo, you can see it as your partner helping you to regain your health.
I write more about this in my book Braving Chemo: What to Expect, How to Prepare, and How to Get Through It.
Visualization, a process of imagining and seeing in your mind’s eye something that you want to make a reality, can help. To prepare yourself and create a friendly attitude toward your chemotherapy, try the following visualization exercise:
Befriend Your Medicine
Close your eyes and imagine the medicine flowing through your body, destroying the cancer cells. If you can, visualize the actual organ where the medicine is working.
Take a few long, slow breaths and imagine the cells of your immune system detecting and then killing the cancer cells.
Imagine your healthy cells staying healthy and each heartbeat delivering nutrients through your bloodstream to your healthy cells.
Feel how your body works to heal you, integrated and coordinated with the chemotherapy.
You can repeat this exercise again during your chemo infusion and afterwards when you are home. The chemo will be working in your body, and your body will be working with the chemo.
Like giving yourself a mental hug, use this visualization whenever you want to give your chemo and your immune system a boost.
If you need some more help adjusting your mindset towards chemotherapy and cancer treatment, check out my last blog post where I walk you through Finding Your Cancer Mindset.
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