Hey there Thanks guys for taking the time - I really sympathise with you & understand your situation. For me, I'm coming up to my 1 year anniversary (of finishing treatment), and doing pretty-much great. Interestingly, after you beat the cancer, almost half of the patient population get some kind of depression (even up to clinical levels), it's kind of a "what now?" effect .. for a nerd analogy, you're like Frodo after the long and horrible journey to throw the ring into Mount Doom .. after such suffering, after saving the world, you've lost so much, you look around, nothing feels or tastes the same .. so yeah .. I'm officially calling it "The Frodo Effect" (trademark pending, if you intend to use that in future you owe me fifty cents. Not the rapper Fiddy Cent, but fifty cents of Australian currency). Me personally, I've felt VULNERABLE to depression a few times, but managed my way around it, so actually doing pretty good. I think that after you win the initial fight you still have to deal with the whole recurrence-risk issue, and when you realise that is still hanging over your head, you continue carrying a (lesser) burden of anxiety and distress. It's good to step back. Coming here and re-reading what I wrote a while ago, about a struggle that I finished almost a year ago (Christmas Eve is my anniversary), it actually widens my perspective again. As James Brown said .. I FEEL GOOD ... so thanks for that. It's not your suffering that makes me feel better ! It's that my own suffering is profoundly reduced and I love my family and I'm living an (almost) normal life a year after cancer. You can too. Good luck with your fight.
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