#1 on my list is mind-over-carcinoma, as in: "You can beat this with the right attitude."

Really? So if I don't beat it, my attitude's the cause?

Don't get me wrong, I'm brewing up some good feisty attitude. It will help me endure the extreme physical testing and losses of treatment. It will spur me to fight as hard as I can for my life. And it will help me find the good days and moments despite it all.

But save me? No, that's down to luck and medical talent, not attitude. Whenever well meaning folk tell me it's all up to attitude, it feels as though they're blaming everyone who's lost the battle to cancer, including my parents.

What do you hate to hear? Please don't leave me alone with my rant smile

Mama

53
T3N2aM0 HPV+
5/26/13 discovered painless superball-sized lymph node in neck
6/26/13 DX SCC R palatine tonsil
7/16/13 TORS tonsillectomy & selective ND, mets to 2 nodes
9/3/13 Cisplatin and rads begin, tolerated 1.5 of 3 planned chemo doses
10/16/13 Treatment ends
Dec 13 Ulcer appears at surgery site
Jan 17 Biopsy -- no cancer!
Feb 17 CT/PET Scan lights up tonsil bed & nasal cavity, docs say probably inflammation, don't panic, rescan when ulcer subsides