Life is full of good news and bad news. Sometimes that bad news comes in relation to a medical situation (yours or a loved one's). And sometimes that bad medical news involves the Big C. Cancer isn't the worst health news anyone can ever get, but it does tend to carry a shock value that requires some time to comprehend and embrace.
We all endure challenging or disturbing news in different ways, and the methodologies of processing bad news are even more varied - and personal. Some people dive into the situation (again; we're talking about medical "bad news" here) and want to learn everything that they possibly can about a condition. Their style is to ask lots of questions, collect lots of opinions, read lots of articles (watch out for ingesting too much WebMD, though) - all in the name of helping them wrap their brains around the circumstance. Others approach the moment from a different direction. They may turn to introspection to grasp the reality, and manage how they are emotionally going to deal with a challenging physical situation. This can sometimes be misperceived as denial, but I contend that those folks are just using the coping mechanism that works best for them - finding the comfort zone that brings them the calm and peace (of mind) necessary to weather their storm.
I don't think that I really fall into either one of these types, yet I do feel as though I have a strategy that works for me (honed through the "travels/travails" of MY cancer journey) - and that's all that really matters, actually. Since the beginning, I have accepted that this was happening (for whatever reason, though not of my own doing; not a result of my lifestyle choices). I am curious about the origins of Multiple Myeloma (MM), the ideal course of treatment, and the current odds of a successful long-term prognosis. But since there is so much uncertainty or personalization about all three of these, most articles are nice, but don't specifically relate to me and my situation.
Not to be misconstrued as denial or avoidance, I carefully meter the amount of MM media that I consume in order to maintain appropriate perspective and avoid putting too much credence into any one school of thought - that may or may not truly apply to my disease, my maintenance regimen or my outcome. I'm on top of the latest treatment developments, in order to stay aware about which ones actually do offer me an option (though very few do, primarily because each new MM medicine is for a very specific patient type with a very specific medical history - and I'm frankly at such a good place that my need isn't uninformed or desperate). Neither diving too deeply into oceans of well-intended hypotheses, nor dismissive of waves of available information, I seek to strike a balance and ride along the top of the breaker - avoiding standing by idly on the beach or being drowned by the "water."
