guilt felings

Pretty normal
I've heard other cancer survivors express their feelings of guilt about survival. But I do think it is something to keep an eye on. Everyone's cancer journey is different. Your godfather had a type of cancer that has a fairly low success rate when it comes to conventional treatment. I am so sorry for your loss, and it is very sad that the medical community hasn't come up with a more effective treatment. Certainly allow yourself to mourn his loss. If, however, you still feel the guilt after two weeks, it would be beneficial to find someone to help you come to terms with your feelings.

Absolutely! I feel guilty
Absolutely! I feel guilty every time I read a post from another teal sister who has had a recurrence confirmed. I have had a relatively long first remission (19 months) and have done absolutely nothing to "earn" it. I don't always choose the best, most healthful foods. I don't exercise as much as I should. I don't live a life free of sin and sloth and all those other deadly sins.

Are you Catholic, Auctiongirl? My son says, "Of course you feel guilty; you're Catholic. Isn't everything our fault?"

Carlene

kikz said:

I guess it's guilt
but I feel bad when I see stories about children with cancer. It breaks my heart more now than ever because I have an idea of what they go through. As an adult I can at least understand what is going on if not why. But a child.....and yet they exhibit such strength and grace.

I don't think I feel guilty about surviving because much as I would not wish this disease on my worst enemy I don't feel I should have less of a chance of survival than someone else. Maybe it's because I think of my family and friends as part of my survival. It's not just me.

Karen

feeling guilty
I don't feel guilty so much that I've survired it's when I see young mothers at the cancer center and wonder why do they have to go through this. They have so much to live for. We all do, but it really bothers me when you hear about their kids and you can hear the fear in their voice. Kathy

I think it's probably quite
I think it's probably quite a normal thing to feel but the key is to not resign ourselves over to it. This loss was very close to your heart so it is understandable that you would have some deep feelings as a result. Whenever we lose someone that we are close to, it seems like it's normal to have thoughts like "I should have called them more" or I should had done this or that, so being that you were both battling cancer I can see why those thoughts would want to creep in. It's just one of the many sides of grief. Right around the time I was diagnosed a friend's little 8 year old was diagnosed with cancer. He ended up passing away several months later and I remember going through some very emotional times from that. I felt like it was wrong for me to beg God to let me live when a little one was not spared. But, I had to move on and each morning I wake up I say "well, I'm still here so let's get up and see what this day has in store".

So yes, I think it's a normal thing to cross something like guilt along the journey but we just have to keep going forward and not pull off the trail and stay at that point. And, I think the fact that you have reached out to others shows that you will be able to find the strength to keep moving forward.

My heart and prayers go out to you as you go through this time of loss of someone you love.