Welcome to OCF, Kevster! Im very sorry to hear about your recent diagnosis!!! Its never easy for anyone to hear those dreaded words... "Im sorry, you have cancer". We've all been where you are and understand what you are going thru and feeling.

I was 44 years old when I was first diagnosed so I can relate to your feeling of shock and everything receiving a cancer diagnosis brings along with it. At your treatment facility, there should be some mental health professionals who work with cancer patients. All of your fears and concerns are perfectly normal. I strongly recommend finding a therapist to talk with. You may also want to consider anxiety meds to help you deal with this temporary rough patch. Depression is very common among oral cancer (OC) patients/survivors and surprisingly depression even affects caregivers as well. Some meds take a few weeks to kick in before their true effect is felt so dont delay in asking your doctors and/or nurses to help point you in the right direction for a mental health professional.

Something I found to be very helpful in dealing with the shock of receiving a cancer diagnosis was to focus only on what is within your control. By avoiding the "what if" thinking it will help alleviate some of the stress you are adding to your already very stressful situation. I know its very difficult to avoid thinking about cancer and what might happen but staying super busy and limiting your "what if" thinking to only a couple minutes once or twice a day with practice will definitely make everything easier. Heres a sayings we have around here that may help you... "dont borrow trouble from tomorrow".

Best wishes with everything!!!