Fear.

Fear. We all have fear. Fear of the unknown is one of our biggest problems.

Humans can be too cerebral at times, but when it comes to a cancer diagnosis, fear seams to rear its ugly head and can put us into a complete panic, a tailspin when our minds just can't keep up with the information onslaught that we are receiving from our medical team. How to process this barrage of information we are given at each appointment???

Simplest solution: bring another set of ears with you. It is amazing how much we miss in comprehension of what we are being told especially during the first few encounters with doctors after an initial cancer diagnosis, but our minds are racing to form and create questions, rather than taking in the presented information. When we miss this critical information, we can become fearful, stressed and worried. Bringing a trusted, CALM friend or loved one to your appointments will help immensely.

Bringing someone who is generally over-emotional or over-reactive is not helpful to you at all. Know who you are bringing, trust that they can remain CALM and objective on your behalf. They are there to help you, not deal with their own personal beliefs on the medical system or treatments.

They can hear the same information, but because the emotions aren't vested within themselves, they are better able to retain that critical information - case in point, I brought my trusted person, and we heard two very different versions of the same information. Upon re-checking with my medical team, my view of the conversations were off, causing me stress, worry and fear. When I learned to believe in my trusted person's relay of the information, my fears were significantly subdued.

Another helpful hint that I was to discover early on: bring a notebook with your BIG questions written down ahead of time. This frees up your mind to think about getting well, and it sure makes the medical team happy that you are not wasting precious time with umm's and ...ah's. They appreciate well thought out questions that they can answer for you. At the end of the day, reducing your fears by taking control of your information intake is empowering.