Have you ever seen the movie Bowfinger with Eddie Murphy? It is a great movie with a classic line from Eddie Murphy as Kit Ramsey. When his anxiety boils to the top, he repeats his therapist’s mantra: “keep it together, keep it together, keep it together”
I have to tell you, that’s how I feel right now, as I wait to go in for my 1st PSA blood test after completing one year of hormone therapy, which was a component of my last radiation treatment. All tests this past year have been ZERO, as in undetectable PSA, meaning no progression of cancer. YEAH!.
But this test is the first litmus test to see if my PSA can stay undetectable after coming off hormone therapy. I am scared, I am anxious, and fortunately, I have implemented a few key techniques to assist me in “keeping it together”.
1. I am writing this journal about it. It is more than a little scary, but I know that blogging on my cancer experience has been a cathartic and over all positive experience. If you are dealing with something like this, please, please, please, try writing about it. You don’t have to publish it or show it to anyone, just do write it down.
2. Meditation. I cannot express how important meditation has been for me in dealing with cancer anxiety. Just try it and you will also feel more in control. Want to know more about my experiences meditating and just how to start this calming experience? Great! Read this blog!
3. Taking the long view. What other choice do I have? I have lost count of how many blood tests I have had to wait for 2 to 3 days for results. The results have been good this past year, but there have been not so good results as well. But guess what? I am still here almost 6 years after diagnosis, feeling really good, and well………here. I have to take the long view and embrace the opportunity of taming my anxiety of many more years of blood tests. What a great way to make myself stronger! Right?
4. Keeping busy. This is not an issue when you are married to Mindy. We just got back from CanFitPro in Toronto last night where Mindy and I presented our new lecture, “Living and Thriving with Cancer”, and we are heading to Dallas next week for SCW where we will present the same lecture again, along with other great lectures and workouts. Mindy has the strategy of always having 28 hours of work to do each day so there is no time to “go down the rabbit hole” (as she calls it) of worrying about a stupid blood test.
5. Keeping a “normal” schedule. OK, getting 4 out of 5 is pretty good right. How do you keep a “normal” schedule when you live in 4 different time zones, airports, airplanes, and strange hotels. As long as I can contribute and help others to deal with serious health issues, I’ll keep the “normal schedule” on the back burner. Wait, never knowing where I am, what my room # is, what time zone I am in…IS NORMAL FOR ME.
Anyway, blood will be drawn today, and I will wait for the results. Maybe the anxiety decreases a little bit every time, maybe not. Anyone reading this who is dealing with cancer knows exactly what I am talking about. All I can say is “keep it together, keep it together, keep it together”. Thanks for the advice, Kit!