Staying positive through cancer treatment

My recommendation is to try to avoid playing out the unpleasant "what-if" scenarios with any disease. You are stage II so you may never go any further.. plenty of people here who are in that boat. Even if you do progress, take just one step at a time and deal with the now. Plenty of encouraging treatments are now available and more are in the pipeline. I have been stage IV for over a year now and I can say that I do not live in fear. I still plan to help my kids through college in a few years and I am still saving for retirement even though it may be a long way off. Hang in there.

Kevin    

My recommendation is to try to avoid playing out the unpleasant "what-if" scenarios with any disease. You are stage II so you may never go any further.. plenty of people here who are in that boat. Even if you do progress, take just one step at a time and deal with the now. Plenty of encouraging treatments are now available and more are in the pipeline. I have been stage IV for over a year now and I can say that I do not live in fear. I still plan to help my kids through college in a few years and I am still saving for retirement even though it may be a long way off. Hang in there.

Kevin    

My recommendation is to try to avoid playing out the unpleasant "what-if" scenarios with any disease. You are stage II so you may never go any further.. plenty of people here who are in that boat. Even if you do progress, take just one step at a time and deal with the now. Plenty of encouraging treatments are now available and more are in the pipeline. I have been stage IV for over a year now and I can say that I do not live in fear. I still plan to help my kids through college in a few years and I am still saving for retirement even though it may be a long way off. Hang in there.

Kevin    

One day at a time. When I was first diagnosed my first doc had me so scared I thought if I closed my eyes to sleep I would never wake up again. Fortunately I learned the truth about things like that and then finally found this forum. So with help from folks here I've educated myself about melanoma focusing primarily on treatments. That knowledge has given me peace to know there is a treatment for me out there that will work I just have to stay or get strong enough to get to it.

Also I had to find that one thing that matters enough to go through hell. When the meds tore my body up so much I could not take a bite of food. That drove me to take a half bite and chew for 10 minutes or whatever to get it down. If I can do a half bite then do another. It drove me when the disease almost paralyzed me and I could barely walk to take that tiny step and lean on the wall or whatever I needed to do. Then if I can take one tiny step then I can do another. What that is to drive you to go those lengths is different per person but when you go through hell you have to find it. Never give up.

Even more important is hope. Hope that if only I can get to that next med it will work. Or in my current case hope for the med I'm on to work better.

As far as staying positive my mom gets on to me if I get negative. Yes when I got this at age 46 my parents moved in with me to take care of me. Deep down I have lots of fear. But I've learned courage is not letting fear stop you from doing what needs to be done.

Love is the most powerful thing there is. To me the Christian God is pure love. When I was almost paralyzed last year I was so angry thinking God had abandoned me. Finally when I was in the hospital I realized he never abandoned me. All those times that the doc referred to as I was just one twist, turn, lift and so on from being paralyzed it was God there protecting me. There was so many times I could name how dumb me did those things wondering why my back hurt and kind of felt like a cord being drawn tight.

I really don't know why I'm still here. I should have succumbed to this disease long ago. I should not be able to walk but I do. I should not be able to talk but I do. It baffles me. My 2nd cousin just passed away from his colorectal cancer after 30 months. But 8 weeks ago he seemed to be doing great. His bio marker was way down to. 100. He looked good. Then suddenly tumors started closing off ducts to his liver and he tried but they couldn't resolve it. I just don't get it. This cancer stuff is just crazy.

Dunno if that answered your questions. Take 1 day at a time and try to enjoy. Educate yourself about your condition and treatments. Purpose to keep you going through hell and high water. Hope. Positive thoughts. Love. Faith.

Eh maybe others have figured it out better than me.

Artie

One day at a time. When I was first diagnosed my first doc had me so scared I thought if I closed my eyes to sleep I would never wake up again. Fortunately I learned the truth about things like that and then finally found this forum. So with help from folks here I've educated myself about melanoma focusing primarily on treatments. That knowledge has given me peace to know there is a treatment for me out there that will work I just have to stay or get strong enough to get to it.

Also I had to find that one thing that matters enough to go through hell. When the meds tore my body up so much I could not take a bite of food. That drove me to take a half bite and chew for 10 minutes or whatever to get it down. If I can do a half bite then do another. It drove me when the disease almost paralyzed me and I could barely walk to take that tiny step and lean on the wall or whatever I needed to do. Then if I can take one tiny step then I can do another. What that is to drive you to go those lengths is different per person but when you go through hell you have to find it. Never give up.

Even more important is hope. Hope that if only I can get to that next med it will work. Or in my current case hope for the med I'm on to work better.

As far as staying positive my mom gets on to me if I get negative. Yes when I got this at age 46 my parents moved in with me to take care of me. Deep down I have lots of fear. But I've learned courage is not letting fear stop you from doing what needs to be done.

Love is the most powerful thing there is. To me the Christian God is pure love. When I was almost paralyzed last year I was so angry thinking God had abandoned me. Finally when I was in the hospital I realized he never abandoned me. All those times that the doc referred to as I was just one twist, turn, lift and so on from being paralyzed it was God there protecting me. There was so many times I could name how dumb me did those things wondering why my back hurt and kind of felt like a cord being drawn tight.

I really don't know why I'm still here. I should have succumbed to this disease long ago. I should not be able to walk but I do. I should not be able to talk but I do. It baffles me. My 2nd cousin just passed away from his colorectal cancer after 30 months. But 8 weeks ago he seemed to be doing great. His bio marker was way down to. 100. He looked good. Then suddenly tumors started closing off ducts to his liver and he tried but they couldn't resolve it. I just don't get it. This cancer stuff is just crazy.

Dunno if that answered your questions. Take 1 day at a time and try to enjoy. Educate yourself about your condition and treatments. Purpose to keep you going through hell and high water. Hope. Positive thoughts. Love. Faith.

Eh maybe others have figured it out better than me.

Artie

One day at a time. When I was first diagnosed my first doc had me so scared I thought if I closed my eyes to sleep I would never wake up again. Fortunately I learned the truth about things like that and then finally found this forum. So with help from folks here I've educated myself about melanoma focusing primarily on treatments. That knowledge has given me peace to know there is a treatment for me out there that will work I just have to stay or get strong enough to get to it.

Also I had to find that one thing that matters enough to go through hell. When the meds tore my body up so much I could not take a bite of food. That drove me to take a half bite and chew for 10 minutes or whatever to get it down. If I can do a half bite then do another. It drove me when the disease almost paralyzed me and I could barely walk to take that tiny step and lean on the wall or whatever I needed to do. Then if I can take one tiny step then I can do another. What that is to drive you to go those lengths is different per person but when you go through hell you have to find it. Never give up.

Even more important is hope. Hope that if only I can get to that next med it will work. Or in my current case hope for the med I'm on to work better.

As far as staying positive my mom gets on to me if I get negative. Yes when I got this at age 46 my parents moved in with me to take care of me. Deep down I have lots of fear. But I've learned courage is not letting fear stop you from doing what needs to be done.

Love is the most powerful thing there is. To me the Christian God is pure love. When I was almost paralyzed last year I was so angry thinking God had abandoned me. Finally when I was in the hospital I realized he never abandoned me. All those times that the doc referred to as I was just one twist, turn, lift and so on from being paralyzed it was God there protecting me. There was so many times I could name how dumb me did those things wondering why my back hurt and kind of felt like a cord being drawn tight.

I really don't know why I'm still here. I should have succumbed to this disease long ago. I should not be able to walk but I do. I should not be able to talk but I do. It baffles me. My 2nd cousin just passed away from his colorectal cancer after 30 months. But 8 weeks ago he seemed to be doing great. His bio marker was way down to. 100. He looked good. Then suddenly tumors started closing off ducts to his liver and he tried but they couldn't resolve it. I just don't get it. This cancer stuff is just crazy.

Dunno if that answered your questions. Take 1 day at a time and try to enjoy. Educate yourself about your condition and treatments. Purpose to keep you going through hell and high water. Hope. Positive thoughts. Love. Faith.

Eh maybe others have figured it out better than me.

Artie

I am stage 3 C and did interferon in April and failed it, it spread to my lungs so went on Yervoy with little to no side effects, finished it Aug 13th and have been NED since..Keeping a positive attitude is very important and keeping your nurtition is important..Drink lot's and lot's of water and add some V-8 juice also to keep your veggie intake up..Keep the faith and belive that you will get through this..Good luck and i pray things go well …With the depression you might want to talk to your dr about that.Sometimes it can get serious..If you're feeling bad,pick up the phone and call someone..

I am stage 3 C and did interferon in April and failed it, it spread to my lungs so went on Yervoy with little to no side effects, finished it Aug 13th and have been NED since..Keeping a positive attitude is very important and keeping your nurtition is important..Drink lot's and lot's of water and add some V-8 juice also to keep your veggie intake up..Keep the faith and belive that you will get through this..Good luck and i pray things go well …With the depression you might want to talk to your dr about that.Sometimes it can get serious..If you're feeling bad,pick up the phone and call someone..

I am stage 3 C and did interferon in April and failed it, it spread to my lungs so went on Yervoy with little to no side effects, finished it Aug 13th and have been NED since..Keeping a positive attitude is very important and keeping your nurtition is important..Drink lot's and lot's of water and add some V-8 juice also to keep your veggie intake up..Keep the faith and belive that you will get through this..Good luck and i pray things go well …With the depression you might want to talk to your dr about that.Sometimes it can get serious..If you're feeling bad,pick up the phone and call someone..

Hi Billy,

The thing that has helped me a lot was the realization that there is simply no way of knowing what the outcome is going to be. There are people that get the one occurrence, have it removed and that's the end of it. There are people on this board who have been Stage IV for years. And there are some that don't make it.

So I realized that the best thing I can do is enjoy each day the most I can. I need to appreciate things that I would otherwise take for granted. If I were to instead live in fear, and I ended up being one of the less fortunate ones, then the cancer would have won. However, if I end up being one of the ones that lives for a long time, then I am going to have a heck of a life since I am getting the maximum happiness that I can out of it. I am sorry if this sounds corny, but it really works for me.

I hope you are one of the many lucky ones and this will be your only brush with it.

Hi Billy,

The thing that has helped me a lot was the realization that there is simply no way of knowing what the outcome is going to be. There are people that get the one occurrence, have it removed and that's the end of it. There are people on this board who have been Stage IV for years. And there are some that don't make it.

So I realized that the best thing I can do is enjoy each day the most I can. I need to appreciate things that I would otherwise take for granted. If I were to instead live in fear, and I ended up being one of the less fortunate ones, then the cancer would have won. However, if I end up being one of the ones that lives for a long time, then I am going to have a heck of a life since I am getting the maximum happiness that I can out of it. I am sorry if this sounds corny, but it really works for me.

I hope you are one of the many lucky ones and this will be your only brush with it.

Hi Billy,

The thing that has helped me a lot was the realization that there is simply no way of knowing what the outcome is going to be. There are people that get the one occurrence, have it removed and that's the end of it. There are people on this board who have been Stage IV for years. And there are some that don't make it.

So I realized that the best thing I can do is enjoy each day the most I can. I need to appreciate things that I would otherwise take for granted. If I were to instead live in fear, and I ended up being one of the less fortunate ones, then the cancer would have won. However, if I end up being one of the ones that lives for a long time, then I am going to have a heck of a life since I am getting the maximum happiness that I can out of it. I am sorry if this sounds corny, but it really works for me.

I hope you are one of the many lucky ones and this will be your only brush with it.