You have finally finished chemotherapy! Congratulations! You must be so excited! You get to go live your life again! So go ahead…get back to it!
Oh wait…it’s not that simple is it?
I’m Hannah Kate and I have been there. In 2020-21, I received 21 rounds of intravenous, multi-drug chemotherapy for a stage IV (but curable) cancer over the course of a year. I was 36 years old when I was released from the grip of the poison.
My body felt wrecked, my mind was in a post-traumatic fight or flight state, and my spirit was, well, dim.
What just happened? How do I move…forward? Is there even hope for feeling like myself again?
This wasn’t a small experience, and I couldn’t just get back to it or go live my life in the usual way. And there wasn’t a lot of guidance or a clear path or a method. So I struggled through my recovery years piecing together resources, navigating the whole experience without a lot of specific support.
So I am here now, four years after my last chemo infusion, seeking to cultivate something that I wish I had then:
• A community of people who are also recovering from chemo
• A clear process to engage the body, the mind, and the spirit—moving toward a depth of recovery in the entire Self
• Someone who has been through it to share their findings and resources
The Chemo Recovery Circle is a space for tending to the whole self—the body, the mind, the spirit—together.
It is a space for engaging the spiral path of recovery by way of nine simple, powerful processes that I have found the most meaningful in my own recovery.
Here, we acknowledge that creative expression is crucial for our healing. Our Circle is nourished by writing, sound, color, movement, performance, and by making things with our hands.
We patiently employ these processes of recovery so that we might find value in our experience and move toward more days of engaging life in clarity and with purpose
A few notes on what the Circle is not or does not provide…
It is not a diet; I am not a dietitian
You can find this sort of support—see an oncological dietitian if you are interested—but that’s not primarily what we are engaging. I think nutrition is important to nourish the body, so we will talk about it, but I’m not here to promote a cancer-free diet in any form.
It is not physical rehabilitation; I am not a physical therapist
You may have some very specific physical problems related to your chemo or cancer, and I encourage you to seek specific professional help for that. I am a Registered Yoga Teacher, and I believe movement is incredibly important to keep the body healthy and express the whole self. We will talk about this, but specific physical ailments should be addressed by a medical professional.
It is not a series of sales pitches for a bunch of supplements and gadgets
There are some products I really believe in, and I will share those recommendations with you, but I will try to minimize this. I do not want to overwhelm you with extra purchase suggestions, but will point you to resources I think are truly worth it.
It is not a magic cure for all of your post-chemo ailments
I believe I have recovered from chemotherapy on a deeper level, but I still deal with some physical side effects. Recovery is a soul experience, but the physical body may continue to have some challenges.
I am a writer (my first book, The Platinum in the Poison: Spiritual and Material Resources from a Year of Chemotherapy will be available April 16), a mother, a former Waldorf math teacher, a trained end-of-life doula, and a meditation teacher. I have a undergraduate degree in mathematics and a Master of Divinity from Duke Divinity School. I love to write and work at the intersection of spirituality, sound, math, movement, and color.