Life's Unexpected Punchline: Finding Humor in the Face of Cancer

When life throws you a curveball, especially a serious one like a cancer diagnosis, it’s easy to feel weighed down by emotions like sadness, fear, and anxiety - during my first battle with cancer, I experienced many of these emotions on a near constant basis. Yet, amidst this struggle, there’s a powerful and often overlooked tool: humor. Finding laughter in the face of cancer provides not just a break from heavy feelings but also promotes healing in surprising ways.

Laughter goes beyond simple amusement; it has remarkable effects on our bodies. Research shows that laughter can lower stress hormones by up to 39%, enhance pain tolerance, and significantly boost immune function. It triggers the release of endorphins, the body’s natural feel-good chemicals. For instance, a study published in the "Journal of Health Psychology" found that patients who engaged in laughter therapy reported a 20% reduction in anxiety symptoms.

Humor provides a coping mechanism, enabling those battling cancer to manage emotions and regain a sense of control. This doesn’t trivialize the seriousness of cancer; rather, I find that it offers relief during dark moments, shining a little light in an otherwise heavy situation.

I am personally a fan of dark humor - the more morbid the better. Not only does it make me laugh, it gives me permission to joke about the not-so-funny side of cancer. Some of my all-time favorite moments are when I give myself and others permission to laugh about my bald head, my missing eyelashes, or my annoyance at the symptoms of cancer.

A perfect example: Right after my double mastectomy, I was having a lot of pain in my chest and I told my parents I was being haunted. They looked at me a little confused. I said "yeah, I'm being haunted by boobs of the past" and just busted out in laughter. My dad thought it was very funny. Mom not so much, but she came around eventually. I feel very strongly that choosing to make a joke of my struggles helps me and my loved ones cope with the very real heartache that comes from cancer.

Even now I make jokes with my husband about treatment or I'll tell him funny stories from the cancer center. Any opportunity to poke a little bit of fun at what I'm going through makes the load just a little bit lighter in my opinion.

The other reason why I chose laughter is that "sad girl vibes" is not my thing - in fact they can make me feel worse about myself and my situation. Don't get me wrong: this isn't to say I never get sad. I do and sometimes I get really sad - the first time I went through cancer, I really struggled with my mental health and had a lot of suicidal thoughts. I don't talk about it much, but that doesn't mean that they weren't there. I think a lot of cancer patients go through the same thing - especially at first. There is a lot of grief, sadness, and anger that you have to process in the early days. I was really lucky in that I recognized that these feelings weren't normal for me and sought help from my therapist right away. I'm doing better now and going through cancer a second time was certainly less traumatic but there are still days when my sadness can feel a bit heavy. Choosing to see the funny side or finding things to laugh about with my favorite people makes dealing with the sadness more manageable.

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UPDATE: My next series of scans is scheduled for November and I'll find out if I'll be done with treatment at the end of the year or if we'll keep going into 2025. Fingers crossed that we're getting close to the end - I have so much that I'm wanting to do!

My hair is also starting to come back in which is pretty cool. Just like last time, it's coming in gray mostly and it's coming in more heavily on the back and the sides. Don't know what it's going to look like this time around but I do plan on taking some supplements to help it grow faster this time. I'm definitely ready for my long hair back!

Last but not least, I'm getting better at managing my bubble tummy symptoms. At the very least, I know some of my trigger foods that make my tummy unhappy. Tomatoes is a big one - which makes me kinda sad because I love tomatoes. I'm hopeful that this won't continue after treatment and I go back to eating all my favorite things.