Kevin’s last entry on “Sometimes you just gotta laugh” got me to thinking about the importance of maintaining an overall positive attitude in this fight with PMP.

I’ve never really thought of myself as real positive thinker. In fact the cynical/sarcastic Bob uses the line “expect the worst, you will never be disappointed and will end up a happier person” frequently, going back for years. I don’t know if I ever really believed it, but it certainly reflects how I joked around and positioned myself with people.

But I realize now that if I truly lived by that sentiment, I would never have made it this far in the battle with PMP. By keeping a positive mental attitude, it kept hope alive. While all of us get rocked backward with the initial diagnosis, I bounced back from the initial news fairly quickly. When after the initial debulking the initial 9 months of worthless systemic chemo for colon cancer showed negative results. It would have been very easy to give up at that point.

Instead something, call it positive thinking or faith, drove me forward to research the alternatives that the 5 medical schools here in Chicago disparaged. It allowed me to keep pressing forward until I found the specialist right for me. High on my list, in addition to technical skills, was an philosophical fit; someone that was in synch with my Quality of Life objectives. It took some work to find the right fit, but a positive attitude, a faith that I would find the right person, kept me going on that search. Ultimately that attitude has given me nearly 4 more years than the 5 medical schools consensus gave me.

Bottom line, in this battle a positive thinking approach is critical. It is so easy to have the intial diagnosis knock you backwards like a 2×4 upside the head. If you don’t somehow pick yourself up the battle is lost. Please use whatever resources you have to get back a positive approach. This site is here as one of those resources and support is one of it’s primary purposes. Please use us as necessary.

This seems like one of those glaringly obvious messages, but felt it needed to be put on the table.

Bob