I was recently diagnosed with Stage 3 skin melanoma. The diagnosis was hard to cope with mentally as I'm sure those with cancer will agree with. I'm relatively young, 45, with three children (19,15 and 13). I had always wished I'd be indestructible and live to be able to see the kids get married, find out who killed JFK, go in to space and see aliens arrive on our plant . . . you know all the things most people want to do :laugh::laugh
In addition to the diagnosis I was also confirmed as BRAF positive. I feel like things are going well but it's a big mental challenge to cope with the daily thoughts and keep myself positive.
Over the last few months, since the diagnosis and subsequent treatment I started to get myself in a stronger mental place only to be hit with more hearing loss (I had a sudden bout of hearing loss in 2013 while living in the US which was never really diagnosed but I ended up with hearing aids). This second hearing loss problem has really hit me and I'm struggling to cope with the daily thoughts of living with cancer and not being able to hear (although I can with my hearing aids).
How does everyone cope with the what I'm sure are the daily struggles of living with cancer and other conditions or side effects?