How you doing?

I had someone ask me how I was doing today and I proceeded to answer honestly as I am apt to do with a straight forward '"Fine". They looked at me curiously and then proceeded to apologize for their mistake saying they had heard I had prostate cancer. This exchange got me thinking even more seriously about how I should answer questions such as this.

Physically I feel fine; at times I am mentally pre-occupied; emotionally it is a bit of a roller coaster but then the same probably could have been said before my re-diagnosis. How should I answer individuals? Looking back I guess we tend to answer the 'How are doing? question from a physical point of view since that is what most enquirers mean. I guess I'll just have gauge the questioner in the future as to what they are really asking.

Having mentioned the emotional side of the equation, it is a real aspect of any illness. Whether it is a head cold, the flu, a broken leg or the BIG 'C' we get caught up in the emotional side of the diagnosis. People who know me well know I have my times and I will have them in the future however I am not going to allow them to rule my outlook. A friend advised me to always put myself on the positive side of any statistical analysis of my cancer journey and that was sage advice. It may be a bit of black humour but statistically, using the guidelines set up by some group, I was cured after my brachytherapy treatment, even though the cancer has returned. This was due to my PSA being within a certain range 5 years after treatment. I'll look up that guideline for a later post.

If you have questions about any of my posts please do ask.

slainte
ric