'Scanxiety' countdown......

mrs_blkjak said:

I understand. My husband has

I understand. My husband has his scan tomorrow and results Tuesday. We are both anxious. I keep telling myself "worrying doesn't change what's going to happen," sometimes over and over. Wishing you great results and peace for your brain during the wait!

The irony is that Michael knows that he has far less to be worried about than just about anyone else on this forum, in fact really nothing at all, but that still isn't much help when anxiety takes hold, because the anxiety is basically irrational.  The best thing is to get suitable counselling to handle the anxiety and develop a long-term coping mechanism to deal with it, whenever it arises and from whatever source.

adman said:

YES

.....Your mouth to God's ears, my friend. 

All true -- Note to self: must learn to cope better!!!

I'm very happy that you have so little to worry about but (as you know) I'm always sad that it bothers you so much - I just hope that whenever the crunch time comes of getting results there's a crumb of comfort from re-assuring you that your future is much brighter than it feels at such times.

Galrim said:

Scanxiety will always be there but...

...what you can hope for is to limit the length of time up to the scan. As time passes thats what i have experienced, the anxiety doesnt get better but at least im now down to start worrying just a week or so before the scans. Actually, being 1 1/2 years away from being taken completely off the scans, Im now starting to think about how i will handle NOT to be routinely checked...

/G

Adman.  I wish I had something helpful to say but I got nothin.  Although I am at high risk of reoccurrence, I don’t think my anxiety levels would be any less if I wasn’t.  Oddly I wasn’t that anxious at all about surgery or the first couple of scans. This summer really got to me.  I kept thinking if I had the balls of Fox or the other guys on the Board or if I could handle IL2. I admit about 2 weeks out I finally called the Doc and got some zanax.  I am not proud of it but I don’t apologize either.   I am certainly bot recommending it ,but it sure helped. 

FiatDriver said:

xanax

My doctor prescribed xanax prior to surgery and I didn't like it.  All it did was put me to sleep.  This is fine in the evening but not so much in meetings at work.  The doctor switched me to Ativan which seems to work better or at least not put me to sleep immedicately.  I would prefer not to take any medicine and use jogging and working out to help with anxiety but I am not really working out at a level that fully works yet.   

To the OP and everyone else, I am really low risk for recurrence according to my doctor yet my first scan, which is all the way in December, is already worrying me so I understand the anxiety.  In addition to scanxiety, I also have developed hypochondria.  Every muscle pain, headache, or heartburn sends me into a panic.

For those that have tried counseling, is there any certain type of doctor I should try?   

Ideally a good clinical psychologist is the person you're looking for, but it must be someone who knows the area - there are many specialisms within clinical psychology so you need someone with experience of helping people in the situation we're in.  Your primary carer, GP, or hospital can probably put you in touch with someone appropriate. 

Alternatively, there are less high-powered and qualified people who act as counsellors, and also specialist cancer nurses, who have all the experience and understanding that's needed to be able to give you a tremendous amount of help so it's worth enquiring about and personal recommendations ae often a good source.

Like you, I much prefer the route of using exercise rather than taking drugs but what's crucial is to find whatever works for you and go with it.

A major merit of the 'talking therapies' is that they help you to get things in proportion and to spot when you're actually creating  problems for yourself unnecessarily.  You aren't turning into a hypochondriac, any more than the rest of us - we all know the anxiety about every new twinge, ache etc that we fear may be recurrence.  In fact it's very useful in keeping us watchful, just so long as we don't let it get out of control and dominate our approach to our everyday life.

Galrim said:

Scanxiety will always be there but...

...what you can hope for is to limit the length of time up to the scan. As time passes thats what i have experienced, the anxiety doesnt get better but at least im now down to start worrying just a week or so before the scans. Actually, being 1 1/2 years away from being taken completely off the scans, Im now starting to think about how i will handle NOT to be routinely checked...

/G

To Galrim:- that's an intriguing new take on it - starting to worry about how you'll handle it when you don't have scans  - getting anxious about NOT having the scans to get anxious about!!

It's truly a helpful thought in reminding us that the purpose of the scans is to help to keep us safe from what they're monitoring for.   We're keeping a careful eye out for an enemy so that it won't catch us unawares - much better than not knowing what could be happening.

There's no doubt that the level of anxiety isn't related to the justification for it (one for M G, that).   Funnily enough, at the bad end, it can be liberating. For folks in the situation of Fox and me, there's no longer the element of doubt that is so troubling for most of us - we've had the bad news and so the situation simplifies to just getting on with it and doing the best we can with it.  I'm now at the stage of weekly blood tests, fortnightly onc consultations and a CT scan interval cut down to 6 weeks because things are moving so fast.  However, paradoxically, I'm feeling mentally stronger - even if the news is worse then the worst you'd feared, the draining effect of the uncertainty has been removed which gives a sense of relief. 

So if you know you're worrying more than you probably should be, don't let it add to your burdens - get whatever help you need in controlling the anxiety.

Stros2013 said:

Counseling is huge....

the nervousness and lack of sleep were debilitating for me when the 6 month scan approached.  When they all came back clean...it was apparent that most if not all of my fear was in my mind and a complete lack of faith in my version of God.

It was with my wife's support that i reached out to Livestrong here in Austin for help.  They matched me with a counselor that i met with every couple of weeks at first and then monthly.

In retrospect, what i noticed was that the counselor understood what we as cancer survivors go through.  We real quickly worked towards the root of the problem or perceived problem.

 

Once my greatest fear was on the table; we were able to work towards potential solutions and acceptance.  

When i went for my scans in July of this year and notations of small nodules appearing in my right lung....it was ok.  I was present and focused.  I was able to move right into the "what next".  More than anything i realised that i wasn't going to die.....at least not on that day in July (or at least not by RCC).  

I guess, i wanted to respond that you may very well have a recurrence in your future.  but with canceling i've found the ability to continue living and more importantly living with grace.  

Reach out for some help.  Give Livestrong a call or a local group for recommendations on folks that work with Cancer survivors.

 

Peace.

Thanks for adding that practical demonstration of how helpful it can be and it's good to hear that it not only helped you at first but what you learnt is standing you in good stead further down the line as well.

Texas_wedge said:

Counselling

Ideally a good clinical psychologist is the person you're looking for, but it must be someone who knows the area - there are many specialisms within clinical psychology so you need someone with experience of helping people in the situation we're in.  Your primary carer, GP, or hospital can probably put you in touch with someone appropriate. 

Alternatively, there are less high-powered and qualified people who act as counsellors, and also specialist cancer nurses, who have all the experience and understanding that's needed to be able to give you a tremendous amount of help so it's worth enquiring about and personal recommendations ae often a good source.

Like you, I much prefer the route of using exercise rather than taking drugs but what's crucial is to find whatever works for you and go with it.

A major merit of the 'talking therapies' is that they help you to get things in proportion and to spot when you're actually creating  problems for yourself unnecessarily.  You aren't turning into a hypochondriac, any more than the rest of us - we all know the anxiety about every new twinge, ache etc that we fear may be recurrence.  In fact it's very useful in keeping us watchful, just so long as we don't let it get out of control and dominate our approach to our everyday life.

I am on the fence about counseling.  I think that if I could just find some motivation to work out, I would be able to handle it on my own.  It is funny but my wife went to counseling about a year ago and while she didn't get much out of it, her counselor recommeneded some great books by Eckhart Tolle and others.  My wife didn't read them but I did and they made a big difference in my ability to deal with stress, even after diagnosis.  Maybe I should go back and reread them.