Mental Health Awareness Month

May is Mental Health Awareness Month.

I have said for a long time that Follicular Lymphoma is as much an emotional disease as it is a physical one. For many of us, we watch and wait before receiving treatment, sometimes for months or even years. For those months and years, we're not dealing with any physical symptoms.

But we have plenty of emotional symptoms -- fear, anxiety, worry, sadness. That's all part of our mental health. We shouldn't ignore that any more than we ignore our physical health. There's no sense in being physically "healthy" if we are mentally and emotionally "unhealthy."

I don't mean to suggest that people who don't watch and wait do not have emotional and mental needs, too. Quite the opposite.

This past week, I saw an interview with Alex Trebek, the host of the TV game show Jeopardy!. Trebek was diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer a few months ago, and is in treatment now. He says he goes through "surges of deep sadness" as he deals with his diagnosis and treatment.

His advice? "Trebek, 78, encouraged others undergoing chemotherapy to be open about moments of depression, even if they are unable to express the reasons behind the bouts of sadness."

Think about that for a second. People going through chemotherapy, and they can't explain why they are sad?

It seems pretty obvious why they'd be sad -- they're going through chemotherapy.

And yet, sometimes it's hard to put into words.

So this is your annual reminder to "be open," to talk to someone if you're feeling sad, or angry, or overwhelmed. Maybe it's because you're a cancer patient, or love someone who is. Maybe it's something else.

But there's no point in suffering in silence.

Maybe just talking about it to a friend or a loved one is enough to feel better.

Maybe just talking doesn't help, and you need someone more experienced, a professional, to help you through it. That's OK, too. Take the step.

But whatever you do, don't be afraid to take care of your emotional and mental health. It's just as important as your physical health.

I wish you all good health -- physical, emotional, and mental -- and the strength to take care of yourselves in any way you need to.