Outlook is key.

Since being diagnosed I have done lots and lots of reading.  I have learned a great deal about Non Hodgkins T-Cell Lymphoma and just wonder how we ever got along without the internet.  In today's local paper there was an article about a man that lives nearby who was recently diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.  A different form of the disease but equally devastating.  A few of the things he said sounded very silimar to my own feelings and were encouragements to my spirit.  "I want you to understand that I sincerely understand the severity of my diagnosis.  But... I want to tell you I feel healed.  I don't feel any pain.  I don't feel anything that would make you characterize me as being sick."  And the article goes on to say "He told his doctor he didn't want to hear his prognosis.  And he doesn't read websites that could have negative statistics.  "That's irrelevant to me because there's only one statistic that matters to me and that's mine.""  Substitute my name and my form of cancer and that article could have been about me.

I have read many many blogs/journals/articles written by people just like me, who are in the midst of their own personal battle, or who have survived their ordeal and are now cancer free.  Unfortunately there are some stories that had to be finished by a family member or are no longer being updated.  But they all help me understand that by no means am I alone with my thoughts and fears and doubts and apprehensions.  Like many other things in life, it is difficult to totally comprehend the true depths of the struggles of other people if you have not been through it yourself.  That does not imply that your compassion, your support and your concern is any less important or any less appreciated.  But there is some sort of common bond that exists in the writings of other cancer patients.

The article mentioned above also includes a quote from the man's wife.  "The family has a "we're going to beat this" attitude.  It has become our family motto.  We are going to live, laugh and love.  That's what we are going to do now, and in the future."  Who could possibly argue with that kind of mindset.