Hello M;

Welcome to this helpful & informative website. Without knowing much about you or your situation, arriving here is (at least) the second thing you have done right...... the first thing being the early diagnosis of the cancer !

Now that you have a team of specialists working on a treatment plan, you and your husband are almost at the point where you can run on cruise control for a while.....

.....well, sort of. At first, there is so much to comprehend, its a wonder we don't fry all our circuitry after the first couple of sessions. The pace doesn't change all that much in the days and weeks that follow, but you'll probably find your absorption rate increases. Things begin to take better shape, and you are not caught off guard or by surprise as often. Before you know it, the patient, the care-givers & the team of specialists will have found their own synergy, and life will become much more manageable and less chaotic. You'll return to thinking of the future in terms of years instead of days or only tomorrow.

One thing I found helpful was this. When you get a quiet moment of alone time, take a second or two and congratulate yourself (and your husband) for getting through one of the more difficult phases to handle, emotionally speaking, of the new reality. Every step in the right direction, regardless of size, is a positive achievement, and the more positives you have, the more of everything else you will have.

Its not all sunny days however; you have to expect the occasional setback, but try to keep them in perspective; they are simply incremental changes much like the positive ones except for direction, and so long as 51% are of the positive variety, you'll be ahead in the numbers game.

In my opinion, a substantial portion of the fight against cancer - that's any cancer, at any stage, fought by anybody - takes place between that patient's ears. Positive thinking prepares the mind to work miracles, the rest of the body just follows. I, too, believe that its not the size of the dog in the fight, rather it's the size of the fight in the dog that matters.

You will be amazed how many others share you concerns and are willing to help guide you through the morass; they have been there too. Anytime you need support, a place to rant, or a sounding board for your ideas - you'll find it here.

The range of information - technical as well as emotional and spiritual - is within easy cyber-reach only a few keystrokes away. You could aptly describe it this way: "The whole is greater than the sum of its parts."

And I'd say you got here just in time !

I wish you and your husband every success in the future,

Sincerely,
JT2