Dad's Cancer

[jacobsee]

I'm 15. About a month ago my dad went to the hospital and they found a brain tumor. After most if was removed by surgery and sent off to pathology, they told us it was stage four brain cancer. He asked a lot weather or not it was hereditary and they said no. I've inherited migraines from my dad but i know those are hereditary. my dad lost a lot of vision in the left side of his visual field.

Now here comes the anxiety part. Besides worrying about my dad, I can't get the thought out of my head that I might have a brain tumor too. I thought I mightve lost some vision on my left side too, but i went to an ophamologist (sp?) and he did some spatial test thing and said the only blind spots i have are the normal ones in each eye that everyone has, and that any visual effect that might be occurring is just a lasting effect of the migraines (i get them with the aura). He basically said that everything he could see was good. I felt fine the first two weeks after i found out about my dad (aside from being worried about him). Then i got this idea and I started getting mild headaches and stomach aches just thinking about it. Everyone around me says that its probably not an abnormal reaction to something like this happening so close in the family... What i want to know is.. is this a normal reaction? Any advice?? im going to a psychologist sometime soon.. is that a good idea??

[DiamondSea]

That sounds like a normal Reaction. When my mom was diagnosed with cancer I was 16, I also had this fear. What you have to understand is that your brain has the ability to emulate what it thinks is going on with your body, it's quite scary and one of the main reasons why I have panic attacks. If you're really that concerned about it (which, logically, you shouldn't be) then you should go out and seek good health. Eat healthy, get exercise, visit a doctor regularly. If you have any questions feel free to PM me or contact me via my AIM and Yahoo messenger accounts below.

[Giz]

First things first.. Cancer is not always hereditary.
Even if it is, there are many well documented ways to avoid it, so you are in full control of whether or not this affects you.

May I ask you, what kind of foods do you eat? Migraines can be linked to many dietary causes, and if you sorted that out then the migraines would subside and you would stop worrying so much.. The worrying in itself would be enough to give you a tumour (joke!!)

There are many things you can do to prevent cancer happening. If you take a look at Phillip Day's website credence there are many many articles and books available on the topic of cancer, he also wrote the book "Cancer-Why Were Still Dying to Know the Truth"

In the meantime you will need to find the power within yourself to be positive. Your dad needs you to keep all your positive energy focused on him so that he will recover. Be thankful for every day that you have with him and remember, there is always hope, even if everything in our world tries to tell us otherwise.

There is always hope, people go into "spontaneous remission" (ie, they used a natural or unorthodox method to recover) every day. Theres every reason to believe that your dad is capable of doing the same
:D

[broadwaymaven]

When my twin brother had a stroke, my doctor even told me it could happen to me. I didn't sleep for weeks even after they gave me all the tests that they could clear me of these problems.

Your mind is very powerful. It has the ability to convince you that you could have the same symptoms. It is very common for people to realize their own mortality when other people get sick. This is especially true when it is someone so close to you. You should feel relieved hearing from the doctor that you are ok.

Right now, everyone is right that you need to stay positive and spend as much time with your father as you can. He wants to see you smiling and happy because he will feel better seeing you happy. It is also really hard to be scared when you are smiling and laughing.

My thoughts and prayers are with you and your family.

[Giz]

Actually, thats a very good point.. Doctors are inclined to err on the worst case scenarios..

I guess you cant blame them, theyre so worried about giving false hope, and theyre so open to being sued, and everything else.. It must just feel safer for them to say "You have x amount of time" when you could have much longer, that way its like you outlived your odds and they come out with their professional opinion intact..

Noone has a privileged knowledge of the future, even doctors when offering a prognosis.

One of my friends was in an accident as a kid. He pushed his brother out of the way and was pronounced dead at the hospital. His mum kicked up a stink and refused to accept it, had him airlifted to another hospital, where he was revived, died again, and revived. He was stuck in a vegetative state for about 6 months. All through that his mum and all of his family focused only positive intentions on him. And after 6 months, he completely snapped out of it.
Hes still with us, loud and proud.. And the mad thing is, his "life" line on his palm is actually broken twice. Weird huh?

By contrast, many people who accept that they only have a short time will die in that time frame-because they have accepted it, and they have almost set their own expiry date in their heads..

The power of the mind is a truly powerful thing. A gentleman where I work had pancreatic cancer (I dunno if you know this but thats the one with possibly the worst survival rate) hes still here, in his 80s and he believes it was faith that saved him, he didnt use the drugs because at the time-he couldnt afford them.

If you need any more proof that the power of the mind is powerful then just think of the placebo effect. The most documented example of the power of the mind ever. If a placebo can outperform a leading drug-then the placebo-and therefore, the power of the mind, is certainly one of the most powerful healing tools there is.

[hectormark]

All cancers begin in cells, the body's basic unit of life. To understand cancer, it's helpful to know what happens when normal cells become cancer cells. The body is made up of many types of cells. These cells grow and divide in a controlled way to produce more cells as they are needed to keep the body healthy. When cells become old or damaged, they die and are replaced with new cells.

[Topcat]

Whilst I believe that the brain is a powerful tool and positive thoughts are healthy I find it hard to accept that this will ever be a sole cure for cancer or any other disease. When my mum had breast cancer she was extremely positive, she did lots of alternative therapies, ate certain foods that were supposed to help etc, she wouldnt discuss anything negative and was certain she would be ok. After 2 years the cancer had spread everywhere and even when she was dying she still believed she would get better. The doctors say it was her positive mind that kept her alive and believe it or not she only took paracetamol for the pain until the last few days of her life when she was reluctantly admitted to hospital.

I am sorry to hear about your dad and I truly hope that he will be ok, it is perfectly normal for you to be worrying this way, my dad died from an aneurysm in the brain and every time I get a headache I worry that I too have the same thing, or that I have inherited the breast cancer gene but as my b/f points out it is pointless worrying and wasting energy about what ifs.

Stress will make your migraines worse so try and relax and spend time with your family and know that what you are feeling is expected.