Enough about me. I would like to encourage those people who have a story to tell or a problem to share to Email me so I can post it. Perhaps your story will be able to give others some answers to their questions. As stated before, I will only publish your NAME AND CITY. Never your contact information, unless you SPECIFICALLY REQUEST me to do so.
Here are the topics that I would like to cover in the next few posts.
- attitude in fighting this disease
- to talk or not to talk to family or friends about your disease.
- controlling your weight.
- smoking - how to quite.
- your best friend - the Urostomy Nurse.
- the need for intensive Medical follow up for the first 5 years.
- exercise
- healthy eating.
- and anything else you can suggest.
Attitude
To me, it goes without saying that you need a POSITIVE Attitude to fight this disease and, of course, any other devastating tragedy. Having a positive attitude about life will make your life better.
In fighting this disease, a negative attitude will probably mean that you will not handle your situation very well. You could fall into and stay in the ‘why me’, ‘I cannot do anything about my situation’, I don’t care, just leave me alone’. These feeling, if carried over a long period of time, could do you in. This should be the furthest thing from your mind. I am not talking about your initial reaction to the shock of hearing the diagnosis. I am talking about months and years after being diagnosed. Some people never get over the initial shock others are able to climb out of it within a month or two. Just make sure that you do get over the shock. Your life and peace of mind will be better with a good POSITIVE ATTITUDE.
The initial shock is devastating to everyone, myself, included. For the first couple of days, I could not think about having cancer. I told nobody. Then, it hit me like a ten-ton truck. I completely broke down for about 24 hours. Yes, the ‘why me’, am I going to die?, what am I going to do? This is completely normal for any human. It probably was another 24 - 48 hours before I realized that I needed to talk and to tell others what was happening to me. From my family and friends, I got the usual ‘so sorry’, ‘let me know if I can do anything for you’, crap. The last thing I needed was sympathy. I was getting enough of that from myself.
I woke up one morning and decided ‘enough of this crap‘. I WAS going to beat this disease in the best way that I could. If my prognosis was short, then I was going to get as much out of my time left as I possibly could.
Looking back, I realized that I had gone through this before. In 1988, I had a heart attach. I went through all of the above and I blamed my Father for not being there to help me through this situation. He had always been there for me when I needed his help. My Father and I had an excellent relationship. He taught me everything I know. However, my Father had died the year before from prostrate cancer. I really did resent, at that time, that he had died and left me alone to face what I perceived as my most devastating problem. When I came out of this depression, I was ashamed and embarrassed about the thoughts that I had about my Father. I even feel that way, today, when I think back about how I felt during that period.
So, pull up your bootstraps, throw your shoulders back and get on with fighting this disease. Keep telling yourself that ‘you can do this and that you are willing to do whatever is necessary’ to survive. Do not let friends and family drag you down with their sympathetic looks. If necessary speak sharply to them, tell them how you feel and tell them that you are going to FIGHT.
From Amazon - Success Through A Positive Attitude
Posted on January 5th, 2008 by Neil
Filed under: A Fighting Attitude, My Cancer, My Problems
There’s been quite a bit of cancer in my family so I have seen the disease battled up close. Your blog serves a wonderful purpose for those with the disease and I believe that positive attitude is the key. Its also a challenge within itself to keep that attitude at times too…. Denise
My aunt friend have Cancer, and she no want any medical treatment, she only have a good attitude and natural medicine. I think this is the best way, I think the attitude is the right path to heal cancer, without good attitude there’s any treatment that help you.
I am 3.5 years in remission from bladder ca diagnosed just a month after my 21st birthday. I successfully quit smoking, keep myself on a healthy diet complete with plenty of brocolli and other fresh vegetables and fruits. I also eliminated nitrites from my diet as nitrites are mutagenic to DNA and might contribute to the development of cancer. I walk 2 miles a day x 3 days/week. My ca was high grade and I pursued treatment w/ BCG. I have not had a single recurrence but I contribute this to my avoidance of synthetic processed materials in my diet, the elimination of smoking, and frequent exercise.