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Hi Michele, I'm so happy for you that you found the cancer early. I can totally relate to the anxiety. It can be both positive and negative. As people with serious health problems we need to pay attention to changes in our bodies and follow up with a visit to our health provider if indicated. The other type of anxiety/fear is the type that happens when we let our imaginations go to all the bad possibilities. That type just wears you down for no good purpose. I was a psychotherapist before I had to stop because of the cancer. I helped people to develop a variety of skills to manage anxiety. Thought stopping is very helpful when dealing with One's imagination. After awareness of the negative thoughts and images one can stop them and replace them with positive images. It's like making a "movie" of your positive future. See yourself doing something you love, as a healthy person in the future. The more sensory aspects you can add, the better. See yourself, hear the related sounds, notice the smells, your bodies position and how it feels to touching the objects around you etc... It takes a little practice but can be vey helpful. The practicing is best done when your not anxious as it's difficult to learn something new once anxiety is activated. If it's too difficult to do on your own there are lots of recorded guided imagery that can be down loaded. Hope that helps. Enjoy your happiness. Lydia

Michele, your diagnosis and surgery was the same as mine! I'm now 3 months post-surgery. About 7 weeks out I had a cold with a lot of coughing and some mucus. I was a bit worried because when my coughing was at its worst, we were in the midst of the worst snow and ice storm in years and I couldn't get to the doctor. When I finally got in it was diagnosed as bronchitis--a chest xray showed it wasn't pneumonia or worse. Not pleasant, but I'm almost entirely recovered. I agree with Tom's thoughts about handwashing and hand sanitizer. I used to have a job where I made a lot of home visits to group homes and foster homes. I caught a lot of colds until I got in the habit of sanitizing my hands every time I left a home and got into my car. then I stayed pretty healthy. Hang in there, Michele!

Thank you everybody for the great advice.And Tom best wishes on your upcoming scan. Thank you again.

Hello Joanna, It is nice to "meet" you. I'm so sorry that it is under these circumstances. All I can tell you is that my sister has been a major support for me during this difficult time. There is something so special about a sister relationship that it is a role that no one else can fulfill. Because of the sister-bond and long-term nature of the relationship I could totally relax with her and talk about things that I wouldn't be comfortable sharing with anyone else. I know nothing about you circumstances but if you are able to go there without causing too much hardship for yourself, I would encourage you to go to be with her. I think I saw on one of the cancer websites that there may be assistance with travel expenses for situations like this. My heart goes out to you and your sister. I will keep you both in my thoughts and prayers. Lydia

Michele, Well, I'm a 13 year survivor and still fear recurrence of lung cancer. In fact, I see my oncologist on February 28th and have a CT scan on the 24th so I'm deep into scanziety. I don't think the fear ever departs because cancer is persistant and often reoccurs. Nine weeks post-op and a cold are about the worse things I could imagine. I was exposed to visiting children 5 days after I returned from having my right lung removed. Five days later, I was back in the hospital with a fever of 105 and connected to all kinds of tubes and devices. Try and stay away from folks that have cold symptoms and children. Don't be afraid to wear one of those medical masks in public. You can get them at a pharmacy. Wash your hands all the time and carry alcohol solution to sanitize your hands when you can't wash. Stay connected with us and don't hesitate to ask further questions. (Yes - I had all kinds of aches and pains that I thought were a recurrence, but they were phantom symptoms.) Stay the course. Tom