cmetalman said...
[img]/community/emoticons/shakehead.gif[/img] Before I get out of bed in the morning,"I GOT PROSTATE CANCER". During the day when I'm "really" working I get a break from thinking about it. Then I come home and I have to catch myself from having it be the only topic I can think of talking to my wife about. Night time isn't that great but at least its not keeping me up.
I'm going through exactly the same experience as you, so on one level I'm the last person who should offer advice. However, I'm finding the following helpful and maybe they may offer you some relief as well:
- I found it helpful to accept that life isn't always fair. It's not fair that I get cancer while living a healthy lifestyle and sometimes someone who abuses their body might never be struck with a disease. On the other hand, I'm 52 and likely have a treatable cancer whereas I know of a 34-year-old mother with young children who has just been diagnosed with a likely terminal cancer. Everything is perspective.
- Related to the last point, I try to think of this as a challenge that some higher power thought is somehow a necessary part of my growth and development as a human being. (Admittedly this can be a difficult one.)
- Socialize as much as possible with friends and family - if you're invited somewhere, go.
- Hug anyone who will let you. (For me that usually means my wife and daughters although even my son hugged me when he found out.)
- Make use of any other sorts of distractions. eg. perhaps watching sports or humorous movies.
- Get into the sunshine in a natural outdoors environment such as the woods or on the water.
- Exercise. It's harder to get motivated when depressed but do it anyway.
- I start each morning listening to a positive message on my MP3 player while bringing the dog for a walk. I like Zig Ziglar and Brian Tracy.
- I'm considering a way that I can make positive use of this experience. Perhaps volunteering at something like a hospice would allow me to turn a bad experience into something positive by allowing me to better relate and emphasize with people going through more serious difficulties than I am.
- The odd beer or glass of wine sometimes helps as long as you don't overdo it.
- Consider and research all appropriate treatments and don't close your mind to any one set of advice.
As I said, I'm still muddling through and definitely haven't wrestled this demon into submission yet. I'm trying though. I wish you the best of luck.
Post Edited (Dreamboy) : 7/31/2011 9:41:34 AM (GMT-6)