Yuragi of Post-surgery First-time Cancer Survivors

Abstract

Abstract

Our research aims at defining yuragi of patients who have been diagnosed with cancer for the first time and have undergone surgery. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 20 cancer survivors who had undergone a gastrectomy in order to obtain data regarding their feelings and experiences after the cancer diagnosis. The Modified Grounded Theory Approach is used for analysis, and the results are as follows. Yuragi of cancer survivors started from severe mental turmoil, “being overwhelmed by getting cancer diagnosis and treatment.” However, this was temporary. In order to stabilise their yuragi, they reclaimed their inner strength by first “trying their best to be treated and to recover from cancer,” then by “preparing themselves to face cancer,” and eventually by “finding hope in cancer treatments.” At the same time, they started “becoming envious of themselves before developing cancer,” when they thought about the past before yuragi had developed. While yuragi involving missing oneʼs previous health conditions presented a risk of reverting the patients back to violent mental agitation, yuragi involving ʻa hope to recover to the previous healthy stateʼ encouraged them to pacify such perturbation. Thus, yuragi as a whole is a spiral change which includes regressions and new indications. The process of going through various stages of yuragi also let the cancer survivors “realise the value of their remaining time.” This helped the patients to live “in the now.” After “being overwhelmed by getting a cancer diagnosis and treatment,” they experienced the stages of yuragi mentioned above, which were “trying their best to be treated and to recover from cancer,” “preparing themselves to face cancer,” “finding hope in cancer treatments,” and “becoming envious of themselves before developing cancer.” Therefore we conclude that each stage of yuragi accentuates every emotional shift patients have to go through.