Scanxiety

Any cancer patient will know the feeling, even if they don't know the word -- in my support group, it's called "scanxiety" -- the anxiety that comes from having a CT or PET scan scheduled real soon.

It's not the scan itself that causes the anxiety (though sometimes the process of having a scan is less than pleasant); the anxiety comes from not knowing what the results might be.

Of all the advice I've seen about dealing with scanxiety, I think some of the best advice is from Laura Dolson, who maintains a site on gyn cancers. Dodson calls it "Test Anxiety," and says there are two ways to deal with it: confrontation or distraction. With confrontation, you deal with the situation head on. With distraction, you push it out of your mind as much as possible. They both work, and sometimes they even work together. Dodson offers some excellent practical advice for using both strategies.

It's funny -- when I get a scan, I use distraction. To me, there's no sense in worrying. The scan is going to happen, and the results are going to come in, and there's nothing I can do to change that, so I try not to even think about it until it's over and I need to do something.

On the other hand, I think I approached my treatments with much more of a confrontation attitude. I didn't fret over them. I knew it was time to battle, and I met that enemy head on.

So we all deal with things in whatever way makes sense for each of us. I've come to believe that with cancer, there are no right ways for everyone to do things, just right ways for each of us individually. Whatever decision gives us peace is the right decision.