You should receive advice about taking care of yourself after treatment, but if you are unsure, ask your healthcare professionals. They may refer you to a dietician, for example, who can give expert advice on how to eat sensibly and help you live with cancer, its treatments and after effects.
Help available
You may feel low or worried, and you may feel that this is the most vulnerable time for you. Remember that you can still talk to your hospital doctor and GP, or telephone the staff on the ward or department where you received treatment. You may also want to join a self help and support group, or speak to staff at a Macmillan Cancer Information and Support Service or on the Macmillan CancerLine.
Check ups
If the cancer seems to have responded well to treatment, then doctors will probably still want you to come back to the hospital outpatient clinic at regular intervals for a check-up. As time goes by, these visits are likely to become less frequent and then cease if there are no problems.
Practical support
Even if your cancer is not responding well to treatment, many people prefer to spend as little time in hospital as possible. Your GP should arrange for community services to help you live at home if you need them. This might include help with household tasks, or continuing advice and support from nurses.
Returning to work
If you are returning to work, or school or college, after treatment, you will need to manage your energy carefully. Employers, or authorities in schools and colleges, should respect your confidentiality if you do not want the fact that you have cancer to be widely known.
Further treatment
Sometimes the original cancer (called the primary cancer) will return, or a new area of growth will be found (known as secondary cancer). This can be a very worrying time, but it does not mean that the cancer cannot be treated successfully.
Your hospital doctor will probably recommend another course of therapy or surgery.
If, however, you are told that further treatment or surgery will not help, this does not mean that nothing more can be done. There will certainly be treatments available to control the symptoms caused by the cancer.
Local palliative care teams, if you are not already in contact with them, will be able to help you to control pain and other symptoms